and rule of all Laws and Laws are so far just good and equal as they accord with the Divine A primâ veritate quae est deus dependent omnes veritates Law So every thing is true as it is consentaneous and conformable to the Counsels and Will of God to that truth which is in the mind of God As Ambrose observes No man can call Jesus Lord but in and by the Holy Ghost because whatsoever is true by whomsoever it is spoken it is from the holy spirit All truth flows from the spirit as all lies are from Satan he is the Father of them God is immutably and unchangeably true Man runs often from truth to errour deceiving and being deceived we often leave the plain way of truth and go into the by-wayes Pulcherrima est veritas per quam immutata quae sunt quae fuerunt et quae futura sunt dicuntur Cic. of errour and mistake The Church in all ages hath had its Pests as well as its Pillars and hath been plagued with an Arrius as well as blessed with an Athanasius Simon Magus hath crept in among the fold of Christ as well as Simon Peter hath had the charge of the flock of Christ And besides truth in us is sometimes more clear sometimes more clouded Our understanding is different and graduate in Amos 3. 6. Jer. 10. 10. Joh. 17. 3. the apprehensions of it But the Lord is alwayes unchangeable in his truth because he is so in his being in his will in his wisdom and other attributes God is not subject either to misapprehensions or recollections God is true in all his works Whither we consider his spiritual operations whom he justifies he not onely freely but truly justifies not onely reprieves but pardons suspends Isa 46. 10. Rom. 11. 29. his execution but makes him heir of life and salvation If God call us he doth it truly and effectually not by Rom. 8. 30. a pretended invitation but by a powerfull and successfull vocation The Apostle links predestination and vocation together in the same chain Whom God regenerates he doth truly convert to himself giveth them true faith and the blessed graces of his holy spirit And so in the works of his hands Angels are glorious and real spirits Man is a noble and a true creature resembling the God of truth and bearing his image he is no fantasm no spectrum as some Gen. 1. 26. hereticks in the primitive times asserted of the body of Christ God made all things very good Gen. 1. 31. and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no mixture of false semblance embased their worth The Creatures are real according to their appearances The world is no dream or fantastick landskip God is true in his words He is true in the incarnate word Christ is the true Son of God not suppositious not the Son of Joseph but the Son of God He was truly 1 Joh. 1. Joh. 7. 40. Heb. 5. 10. Joh. 12. 15. Col. 2. 9. Psal 19. 8. God and truly Man a true Prophet a true Priest a true King 1 Joh. 5. 20. And Christ calls himself the truth Joh. 14. 6. God is likewise true in every word which the Prophets or Apostles have pronounced or laid down for Joh. 18. 31. Joh 18 37. Mat. 5. 18. Rom. 3. 4. our advice and instruction truth is an indelible character of the Scriptures In his Word God is true in every particle of it in every tittle of it Mat. 5. 18. And therefore as the Apostle saith Let God be true and every man a lyar Rom. 3. 4. Christ asserts he spoke nothing but the words of truth and he left heaven to converse with the Sons of men to bear testimony to the truth Joh. 8. 40. Joh. 8. 40. God is true in his donations He gives us true happiness true grace puts in us a principle of truth God writes us true Eph. 4. 30. Mundi bona sunt fugacia et falsa sed Christus robis confert spiritualia et aeterna spiritum sanctum et vitam aeternam Ger. pardons seals us by a spirit of truth to the day of redemption give us true knowledge fills us with true joy and sweetens our souls with real and true consolations He enriches us with true riches Luke 16. 11. The profers of the world are false and evanid false shews and counterfeit satisfaction But all true complacencies and delights are to be found in Christ and are treasured up in God God is true in his promises Those breasts which yield better liquor then wine those flowers which smell sweeter then Promissiones habent ubera verè vino meliora et magis fragrantia unguentis optimis Bern. the choycest oyntments as Bernard saith sweeter then the flowers of Paradise All the promises in Christ are Yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1. 20. They are all established in him as a strâ—â—â—ure built upon a sure foundaâ—ion Indeed the Lord is abundant in truth Exod. 34. 6. He is encompassed with truth as with a girdle Isa 11. 5 6. He is plenteous in 2 Cor. 1. 20. Exod. 34. 6. Isa 11. 5 6. Psal 86. 15. Psal 100. 5. Psal 91. 4. Psal 117. 2. Psal 146. 6. truth Psal 86. 15. Ready to write truth in our inward parts He is eternal in truth he is holy and true in this generation and so he will be in the next Psal 100. 5. He is preservative in his truth his truth is both shield and buckler Psal 91. 4. So that truth is not onely Gods glorious attribute but mans sure defence We must meditate on the Love of God This is that influential attribute which sets God on work His love sets his eye on pittying his head on contriving his hand on acting his heart on melting God out of love sent his Son Joh. 3. 16. Joh. 3. 19. out of his bosome scatters his Gospel in the world that light which is more glorious then the Sun In love God saith Ezek. 16. 6. to the sinner live Ezek. 16. 6. seeketh after enemies for reconciliation 2 Cor. 5. 19. and makes clods of earth and 2 Cor. 5. 19. poor worms heirs of salvation Heb. 1. 14. But for the further Heb. 1. 14. discovery of this sweet attribute we must search for it in its properties it may be discerned in its characters though not in its cause Now there are divers explanatory characters of divine love The love of God is eternal love Gods love to poor man had no beginning there never was any time when the heart 2 Tim. 1. 9. Jer 31. 3. Hos 11. 9. Apostolus tempora secularia vult quae simul cum seculo et mundo fluere et volui caeperunt sed ante tempora secularia quod ante mundi constitutionem ante temporis et mundi origineÌ„ est Ansel of God was not set upon a Saint He loved him in his futurition when the believer was to be a child of God
as Christ saith John 16. 22. I shall see you again and then your heart shall rejoyce And as Theophylact observes The Disciples as it were rose from the dead transported with joy A life of Righteousness For as Christ died for our sins so he arose for our justification Rom. 4. 25. It was the rising of Martis Christâ— proprius finis erat peccatorum expâ—â—â—â— sed resurrectiâ—nis justitiae imputatio Pâ—r. Ideò Christus promeretur nobis justitiam et vitam spiritualem quae consistit in remissione peccatorum et justitiae imputatione per quam coramdeo justi reputemur quia ex morte resurrexit Ger. Christ which made his death auâ—hentical and satisfactory Paraeus observes The proper end of Christs death was the expiation of our sins and the proper end of his resurrection was the imputation of his own righteousness The foundation of our comfort is laid in Christs death but we receive it in his resurrection Our peace and joy is sown in his death but we reap it and begin to possess it in his resurrection And though Christs rising adds nothing to the price which was paid in his death yet it is a demonstration of the sufficiency of it and thereby a confirmation of our comfort by it for if Christ had not rose again his death had done us no good and all our comfort had been a withered branch If death had overcome him wrath had overcome us Christ by rising hath promerited a righteousness for us Jer. 23. 6. our wedding garment came from this Wardrobe his breaking from the grave made our joys and his own merits full which are applicable to us by faith A life of Grace Christ by his resurrection hath purchased the donation of the spirit which he sent down extraordinarily Ex plenitudine Christi gratiam pro gratiâ accepimus non tantùm gratiam remissionis peccatorum sed 〈◊〉 vitam a ternam quae credentibus ex gratià datur Aug. presently after it upon his holy Apostles Acts 2. 2. and still in sweet and sutable measures upon his people John 1. 16. Now this True Vine John 15. 1. flourisheth in glory to which his resurrection was the first step he drops sap into his branches here below John 15. 4. Christ after his resurrection obtains the Holy Ghost for us and bestoweth it upon us and by this blessed spirit engraffeth us into himself regenerateth and quickneth us An evidence of this truth we have John 7. 39. The words of which Text run thus But this be spake of the spirit which they who believed on him should receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not glorified This royal gift only waited the glory of his resurrection A Life of Glory The Resurrection of Christ opened the gates of Heaven to believers and from that first ascent he Christus coelum Ipsum ingrâ—ssâ—s est nâ—n tâ—m prose et sâ—â— gloriâ quam pro nobis nostra gloriâ Christus praecurrit ut nobâ—â— vâ—am sterâ—eret et pararet â—tque praecurrenâ—em brevi subsequâ—emur qui enim aâ—teri praeâ—urrit ut pertas aperiâ—â— et aperâ—â—â— servâ—tâ— parvâ— intervâ—llâ— qui sequitur intrâ—â—bâ—t Theoph. Nullâ— operatio in die dominico agatur nisi tantùm Hymnis et Psalmis et cantionibus spiritaâ—libus dies ill transignur Linw. went up to his Father to prepare a place for us John 14. 2. Had Christ been locked in the Grave we had been locked out of Glory but Christ rose to go to his Father and in this he is our fore-runner as the Apostle saith expresly He is entred into Heaven for us Heb. 6. 20. to take up our room and prepare our eternal Thrones Theophylact hath a pretty similitude When one goes before saith he and opens a gate it is but a little space but those who are to follow come and enter so the Saints shall not be long before they shall enter within the vail whither our fore-runner is gone before and this sublimates a Believers hope Our Suâ—ety hath taken our places for us and after a few breaths a few flying moments we shall come and take up our eternal abode and residence And what is the issue of all this Shall Christs resurrection be the fountain of our good and not the incentive of our duty Shall we rise with him and not live to him on his own holy day Had the Resurrection only concerned himself and been the Emblem of his own personal glory some Apology might have been made but when it is not an inclosure but a Common for the Saints to live upon how should this influence us upon the Lords day How should our hearts rise in holy affections how should our voice rise in praise and thanksgivings how should our thoughts rise in heavenly meditations A couchant earthly frame upon this day no way accords with this beneficial nay beatificall resurrection The Resurrection of Christ is the certain assurance of ours The Head is risen and the body must follow the Elder Eph 1. 21. 22. Hoc sperate memâ—ra quod in capite praecessâ—â— Aug. Brother is sprung out of the dust and the Younger Brethren shall not always lie there The Vine is now planted in Heaven and there the Branches must receive their eternal flourish Christ rose again not as the Jews prisoner under a Dies vitae nostrae est dies Parasceves succedit dies qutetis in sepulchro quem sequitur dies resurrectionis ad vitam Ger. sentence of condemnation but as the Christians Harbinger for their unspeakable consolation It is worthily observed of a learned man The day of our life is our Preparation day then follows our Rest in the grave to which succeeds our Resurrection day to life and eternity As Christ died to make the purchase so he rose again to see it made good to believers and his Resurrection is but the earnest of ours This glorious act of Christs rising gives us security for these ensuing particulars That Divine Justice is satisfied When the Prisoner for Debt is freed it is presumed the debt is discharged and the Quia Christus resurrexit ideò non amplius sumus sub peccatis quia praestita est plena pro iis satisfactio c. Ger. Creditor fully satisfied Christ in his Resurrection opened the prison doors of the grave and shewed himself to many witnesses free and discharged from all incumbrances which fully speaks that divine Justice is paid to the utmost farthing That God and Man are fully reconciled For sin only commenced the controversie and kept up the difference Isa 59. 2. Now sin being removed by a full acquittance and discharge â—am Christus mortuus est immò jam resurrexit ergo peccata nostra non amplius coram dei judicio nos condemnare possunt viz. By the delivery and Rising of our Surety the wound naturally closeth and all is peace between God and believers And so the Sun of Righteousness arose with
thirsts after Christ will admit of no delay Nature it self calls us up betimes on Gods blessed day for then we are more fit and fresh more lively and vigorous for holy and spiritual duties Grace doth not onely command us but Nature invites us and surely we should serve God on his own holy Sabbath as David danced before the Ark 2 Sam. 6. 14. withall our might Nature and experience teacheth us that our memory is quickest our senses are readiest our natural powers ablest in the morning our mind then is free from evil vain and worldly thoughts our memory is renewed Mâ—nè animus est aptâ—or ad audiendum et cogitandum rationalta eaque quae Dei sunt Hier. and hath recovered far greater strength our senses are not inveigled with terrene and outward things our natural powers being then revived have their greatest liberty then our affections are disingaged and divine things may first attract and seize upon them and these things being weighed in the ballance how necessary is it early in the morning of a Sabbath that the first thing presented to our minds should be the beholding of God the first thing presented to our thoughts should be the Word of God and the first thing presented to our affections should be the injoyment of God One well observes that in Scripture-language to do a thing in the morning and to do a thing diligently are the same thing Psal 101. 8. and so Prov. 7. Psal 101. 8. Prov. 7. 15. 15. illustrates this where the Harlot tells the young man that she came forth to meet him and diligently to seek his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 face the Original Word there is to seek thy face in the morning So then to get up early in the morning on the Sabbath is the emblem and the evidence of our diligence We have a saying amongst us that the Morning is a friend to the Muses i. e. the morning is a good studying time I am sure it is true that the Morning is a great friend to the Exod. 23. 19. Dicuntur primitiae primi fructus frugum ubi non intâ—lligimus primos dignitate pretio vel bonitate sed origine et tempore quod primò maturescit Riv. in Exod. Graces the Morning is a good praying time in Exod. 23. 19. The first of the first fruits of the Land was to be brought to the house of the Lord. God would not onely have the first fruits but the first of the first fruits if there were any sooner ripe then others God would have them So God will have the first of the first fruits of the Sabbath the very earliest time of the morning the morning blushes are most beautifull in his sight In the morning Nature renews its strength like the Eagle Psal 103. 3. The eye is more fit to contemplate the tongue more fit to pray the knee more supple Psal 103. 3. to bend the understanding more lively to speculate we are freshest in the first setting out of the race and we run with the greatest liveliness The travelling beast foams and is rampant when it first sets out in the morning Nature it self opens our curtains betimes in the morning especially on Gods holy day Men will rise up early to pursue their pleasures Young Men as holy Mr. Greenham observes will rise up early to Marriages to Feastings to go a Maying and will not this be our shame that for holy and heavenly exercises to serve the Lord in spirit and truth we will redeem no time whereby Joh. 4. 24. the glorious Sabbath may be better sanctified Can carnal delights have a more forcible influence upon us then spiritual Isa 25. 6. Shall the dregs be more lushious and sweet then Conviâ—ium Eucharisticum corporis et sanguinis Christi summae sanctorum sunt deliciae Ruffin et Leo Castrius the Wine on the Lees All divine complacencies the soul may find in Gospel Ordinances Shall delight in the Creature more enthrall our desires then delight in God who is the sweetest Paradise to a gracious soul Shall Young Men rise early to gather May and not we prevent the dawning of the Sabbath to gather Manna to feast with Christ to let our thoughts wheele about towards Heaven and take Corpus in refectionis delectatione resolvitur cor ad inane gaudium relaxatur Greg. Moral their flight within the vaile Let not a dalliance nor a merry meeting more engage the carnal part of the World then the Lords feast of fat things the set banquets of his holy Sabbath necessitates our most early flights after that blessed prey Nay lastly How early will men rise to prosecute their sinfull designes The Persians adore the rising Sun are early up for their Idolatry The Prophet observes that the Drunkards Isa 5 11. Ebrietas certe est intempestiva quae est matutina contra Apostolum 1 Thes 5 6. rise up early in the morning to follow strong drink and continue till night till Wine inflame them they are early up and are unwearied in their sins and cursed profuseness The Israelites rose early to evidence their madness and their folly to offer burnt offerings and peace offerings to a Golden Calf and to eat and drink and rise up to play as usually Exod. 32. 6. superstition ushers in prophaneness The Papists will break their sleep that more timely they may have their Masses Superstitio et omnu Idololatria est profusâ— qui eâ inâ—aleseunt nulla pâ—rcunt sumptibus veros dei cultores pudeat tam â—arcos esse cum agitur de regno dei promovendo Rivet and Popish practices and Hereticks will attend on their vain Revelations and will recover some time by early rising their Enthusiasmes and fantastick dreams shall snatch them out of their beds betimes God makes his complaint against the Jewes that they rose early to corrupt their doings to intangle themselves in sin and provocation Saul sends messengers to slay David in the morning he will take the earliest time of the day for murther and cruelty The Philistins rise early every morning to enter their Idolatrous Temple to worship their Dagon and shall not we infinitely more rise early on the Lords day to worship Jehovah Shall Dagon Zeph. 3. 7. have more honour then the Ark Surely the sinners vehemency 1 Sam. 19. 11. 1 Sam. 5. 3 4. might justly shame us into early piety CHAP. XIII How we must spend the morning of a Sabbath ANd now when our zeal hath made its way through the curtains and raised us from our beds and our down let us set upon Sabbath work let us betimes wait for the visits of Christ in the performance of the duties of a Sabbath Now especially God waits to be gracious but it must be in a way of duty Holy duties they are the paths to Isa 30. 18. meet Christ in the road of Divine mercy they are the Garden wherein the Spouse meets her Beloved
second person in the Trinity who is the messenger of the Covenant Mal. 3. 1. and this party is called God Gen. 32. 30. It was such an Angel as blessed Jacob which was a work proper to God But now if it be demanded what it is to pray in the holy Ghost Answ It may be answered First The spirit helps us in prayer in a way of gifts Alludit Paulus ad illud Psal Psal 46. 8. Psallite sapienter pro quo hebraicè est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut intelligentio quod septuaginta vertunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut nimirum intelligatur quod canitur et quod precatur that the heart may not be bound up and that we may have necessary words to give vent for our affections It is the spirit which bestows the gift of prayer that we may enlarge our selves to God on all occasions 1 Cor. 14 15. But this gift is much bettered by Industry Hearing Meditation Reading Conference nay by prayer it self such holy exercises may be auxiliary to this excellent gift for the spirit worketh by means as the Sun shineth in the air in which it maketh its glittering ascents Secondly There is the gracious assistance of the spirit which is either habitual or actual First Habitual grace is necessary to prayer Zach. 12. 10. where there is grace there will be supplications as soon as the Child is born it falls on crying Acts 9. 11. Prayer is the Zach. 12. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gratia et supplicatio in uno comprehenduntur kindly duty of the New Creature the regenerate person is easily drawn into Gods presence when once we are renewed by the Holy Ghost we shall certainly and sweetly pray in the Holy Ghost we shall offer up spiritual devotions acceptable to God by Jesus Christ Secondly There is the actual assistance which we have from the spirit when a man is regenerate yet he cannot pray as he ought unless he be still moved and assisted by the blessed spirit Now these actual motions do either concern First The matter of prayer which is suggested by the spirit Jam. 1. 17. of promise for let a man alone and he will soon run into Eph. 1. 13. a temptation and cry for that which is inconvenient and it would be severity in God to grant it and therefore the direction of the Holy Ghost is necessary that we may not aske Rom. 8. 27. a Scorpion instead of a Fish a stone instead of bread We take counsel of lusts and interests when we are left to our private spirit now the Holy Ghost teacheth us to ask not onely what is lawfull but what is expedient for us so that the will of God may take place before our own inclinations Or Secondly These actual motions of the spirit concern the manner of our prayers now in prayer we have immediately Quid resert gemere Suspiria confusa ad deum mittere fortè evanesâ—unt in aere sed interpelâ—atio spiritus certò exauditur â— deâ— Par. to do with God and therefore we should take great heed in what manner we come to him The right manner is when we come with affection with confidence with reverence First With affection Rom. 8. 26. It is the holy Ghost sets us on groaning words are but the out-side of prayer sighs and groans are the language which God will understand we learn to mourn from the Turtle from him who descended in the form of a Dove Mat. 3. 16. He draws sighs from the heart tears from the eyes and moans from the soul Parts may furnish us with eloquence but the spirit inflames us with love that earnest reaching forth of the soul after God and the things of God That holy importunity that spiritual violence which is often used in holy prayer comes onely from the spirit Many a prayer is neatly ordered musically delivered and gravely pronounced but all these artifices they are the curiosities of man and savour nothing of the holy spirit then it speaketh the spirit to be in a prayer when there is life and power and the poor suppliant sets himself to wrestle with God as if he would overcome him in his own strength Secondly With confidence In Prayer we must come as Children and cry Abba Father Rom. 8. 16. usually we do Suprema essentia spiritus dei qui orare facit orantibus promittit promissum largitur testimonium nobis intus perhibet quisnam dubitationi locus Chrysost not mind this part of the spirits help in prayer we look to gifts and enlargements but not to this Child-like confidence that we may be able to call God Father without reproach or hypocrisie not seriously considering it is the language of a Child which will onely prevail upon the affections of a Father Thirdly With Reverence That we may be serious and awfull God is best seen in the light of his spirit the Heathens could say We need light from God when we speak of or to God That sense of the Lords greatness and those fresh Non loquendum dâ— deo sine lumine and awful thoughts that we have of his Majesty in prayer are stirred up by the Holy Ghost He uniteth and gathereth our hearts together that they may not be unravelled and Devotio et pius in deum affectus debet semper viam aperire ad particulares nostras petitiones sive pro aliiâ— petimus necessaria sive pro nobis Daven scattered abroad in vain and impertinent thoughts Eph. 6. 18. And therefore to wind up this particular which hath been more copiously handled then usual when we go to pray at any time and so consequently in our Closets or Families on the morning of the Sabbath let us cast our selves upon the Holy Ghost as appointed by the Father and purchased by the Son to help us in this sweet and serviceable duty Rom. 8. 26. We are often tugging and labouring at it and can make no work of it but the spirit cometh and contributes his assistance and then we launch forth and our sails are filled and we go on prosperously in that omniprevalent duty A good Expositour gives this gloss on Rev. 1. 10. John was Arch. in loâ— in the spirit on the Lords day i. e. he was in prayer upon the Lords day the spirit mightily assisting us in prayer makes strange and glorious impressions upon us As it is reported Greg. Orat. de Laud. Basil of Basil That when the Emperour Valens came in upon him while he was in Prayer he saw such lustre in his face as struck the Emperour with terrour and he fell backwards Prayer can make a great change in us and work Luke 9. 29. great things for us and therefore the management of this duty must be dispatched with the greatest care and exactness We must not onely take our opportunities for prayer on the morning of a Sabbath and see to the qualifications of Psal 5. 3. of that duty to
Father before we go to the Psal 119. 27. publick Ordinances on the blessed Sabbath Rev. 3. 18. Secondly As we must pray that God would take away the scales from our eyes so likewise that he would remove the caul from our hearts that he would open our hearts to receive the word Judgment discerns truth but affection embraceth it Indeed the understanding takes a view of Gods word and finds it to be holy just and good Rom. 7. 12. But the heart entertains it and lays it up as its choicest Luke 2. 19. treasure A poor man goes by a Goldsmiths shop and seeth Mandata dei sancta sunt quia praescribunt quomodo deus sanctè colâ— debet justa quia praescribunt ut proximum non laedas sed ei quoâ— suum est tribuns bona quia praescribunt eâ— quibus quisque in se bonus est Alap Nisi Sp. s cordi sit audientis otiosus est Sermo Doctoris Greg. Money Jewels and Plate but he is not enriched by this wealth and a traveller in his journey takes a view of pleasant Lands delicate Mountains and amiable Prospects but his own Tenure is not amplified by all that he seeth So our judgment views truth and is convinced of its beauty and excellency but the heart only espouses the blessed truths of God and makes them his own to all intents and purposes Gospel discoveries are no riches till they are locked up in the heart and therefore God must be intreated for this thing for he that opens the eye must open the heart or else when the Sermon is done all the Prospect is over and we are not at all the better Lydia's attending was unavailable untill God opened her heart Arts 16. 14. The Apostle speaks of receiving truth in the love thereof 2 Thes 2. 10. Truth is pleasant to the Understanding but profitable to the Will Then the Gospel advantageth us when the Doctrine of it is not only the guide of our eye but the good of our heart It is love and affection which squeezeth the Grapes of truth and maketh it generous wine to the soul Where Acts 2. 37. the word Preached by Peter wrought upon the Jews it Christimors morita sacramenta praecepta promissa licet incredulis pudorismâ— et risui tamen nobis virtus dei et potentia pricked them to the heart Acts. 2. 37. If we buy the truth as Solomon adviseth us Prov. 23. 23. the heart must be the Chapman If we taste the word 1 Pet. 2. 1 2. the heart must be the Palate we then rellish truth when we affect it If we delight in truth Psal 119. 47. It is the joy and the rejoycing of the heart as Jeremy speaks Jer. 15. 16. A learned man observes It is the love of truth which is one of those graces which accompany Salvation Therefore on the morning of a Sabbath let us importune the Lord to engage our hearts in the service of truth and for the entertainment of it he who searches must draw the heart Rom. 1. 16. Thirdly Let us wrestle with God for the strengthning of our memories that he would make them pillars of Marble to write divine truth on It is very sad when heavenly Doctrines are written in sand or dust and after our hearing of them they run out again as the sands in the hour glass sad it is that truth which cost so dear should be lost so soon If God is so gracious to keep a book of remembrance for our discourses Mal. 3. 16. how serious should we be to keep a book of remembrance for Gospel discoveries It is most reasonable that those truths which were bought with Christs bloud should be wrought on our hearts Indeed in this case Jonah 2. 8. to forget our mercies is to forsake them How earnest was the Apostle Peter that the Saints might not forget those Doctrines which he â—ad preached how doth he reduplicate his care and their duty 2 Pet. 1. 12 13. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of 2 Pet. 1. 12 13 15. these things yea I think it meet as long as I am in this Tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance And so in the fifth verse Moreover I will endeavour that you may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance Thus this blessed Apostle again and again stirs up and urges their mindfulness and remembrance of those Gospel truths he had discovered to them and presses that the Gospel might not die with them when he was dead and gone Our memories are naturally sieves of vanity and therefore need divine assistance to close up the chinks and stop the holes that the waters of life run not out in waste Indeed mans memory is never so usefull as in the time of Ordinances it is then a sacred Register and a holy repository like 1 Cor. 4. 17. the Ark where the two Tables in which the Decalogue was written were put and lodged After a good heart and 2 Tim. 2. 14. a good life nothing more conduceth to mans happiness then a good memory Forgetfulness is the grave of Gods truth 1 Tim. 4. 6. and mans treasure what I forget I can neither dwell upon by meditation nor feed upon by love and affection nor live upon in a holy and fruitful conversation Forgotten promises cannot support my faith forgotten commands cannot regulate my life forgotten truths cannot enrich my mind Forgetfulness is never happy but when injury is the object when we bury our injuries in that silent sepulchre One glorious office of the spirit is to bring things divine to our remembrance John 16. 26. and to fasten truth upon the Spiritus sanctus non solùm ut sciamus Author est sed ut verè sapiamus Doctor est ut beati simus intimae suavitatis largitor est Aug. soul we should therefore be earnest with God on the morning of a Sabbath to cause his spirit to execute this blessed office For though in preaching of the word the Mysteries of the Gospel are propounded to us yet it is the spirit must open our minds to understand the word else it will be a book sealed as the Prophet speaks Isa 29. 11. It is the spirit must give us wisdom to apply the word Eph. 1. 17 18. It is the spirit must support our memory to retain the word A learned man observes The Holy Ghost performs his office Isa 29. 11. not only by revealing truth to us but by imprinting it upon us Else the sounding of the Gospel will be like the sounding of Eph. 1. 18. a Clock after it hath struck a little noise there is for the present but it ceases by degrees and at last no sound at all is heard In a word forgetful hearers go from Ordinances Spiritus Sanctus apud nos officium suum peragit non solùm docendo sed et suggerendo just
Christ will scatter vain and wandring thoughts Cant. 3. 1 2. in holy duties the soul will then say I come to seek my Beloved Let us get strong apprehensions of the holiness and purity of God And let us consider how unsuitable vain and slight thoughts are to his holy and unblemished thoughts how Attributa dei sunt invisibilia et spiritualia et ideò deus est colendus latriâ precibâ— votis et gratiarum actione Alap unsuitable our mud is to his Chrystal What is the reason that the Saints and Angels in Heaven have not a vain thought they strike not a wry stroak the sight of the holy God doth fix them Nothing would more spiritualize our thoughts in holy duties then the consideration of Gods Attributes the transcendent brightness of those most glorious beams The Masters eye keeps the Servant demure and observant and nothing more consolidates mans heart then the serious apprehensions of a glorious and infinite God Let us be earnest with God for the spirit He can sanctifie our thoughts in holy Ordinances and keep them close to the 1 Thes 5. 23. work in hand The spirit of God can turn the heart which naturally is a bed of lust to become a bed of spices and 1 Cor. 2. 10. so fill it with divine cogitations this blessed spirit can present the soul with Heavenly objects in Heavenly duties The spirit is not onely a discerner of thoughts but the refiner of them to purge away their dross and impertinency and therefore called a Refiners fire Mal. 3. 2. Our Saviour faith John 16. 13. The Spirit of truth shall lead us into all truth and our hearts being guided the thoughts will not be subject to wander into by paths when we are interessed in holy and sacred opportunities CHAP. XXXI As we must be strict in our behaviour so we must be spiritual in our duties when we approach the Publick Ordinances HAving thus largely discovered how we must be strict in our behaviours in publick ordinances We come next to shew that we must be spiritual in our duties The heart is the chief ghuest at every ordinance The Aegyptians of all the fruits chose the Peach to consecrate to the Goddess and they gave this reason for it because the fruit thereof resembleth the heart The Saints Character is from his inward carriage to God The Kings Daughter is all glorious within Psal 45. 13. If we will worship God indeed we must worship him in heart Hypocrisie is but practical blasphemy The heart is the King in the little world Man Our Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith John 4. 24. God is a spirit and he will be worshipped in spirit and in truth In truth i. e. Scripturally opposite to the inventions of mens heads In spirit i. e. sincerely John 4. 24. opposite to the dissimulation of mens hearts The deeper the belly of the Lute is the pleasanter the sound is the deeper our worship comes from the heart the more delightfull it is in Gods eye But now that our holy duties may be spiritually performed that we may hear spiritually and pray spiritually and receive spiritually The inward man must be employed in holy ordinances not so much the ear as the understanding not so much the knee as the memory not so much the tongue as the heart though as our Saviour saith Mat. 23. 23. This must be done but the other must not be left undone In legal sacrifices God would have the fat and the inwards Lev. 7. 3. Is it Bis adeps nominatur et halocaustum non tantùm suit res sancta sanctarum sed et locus in quo comesta fuit â sacerdotibus sanctur fuit not to inform us that our services must not be specious but spiritual God must have the fat and they must be cordial not extrinsical God must have the inwards It is not the Pharisees disfigured face but Mary Magdalens melting tears God eyes and respects God is not delighted with the Pageant of a duty The Service doth not please God which hath Absolons face but which hath Davids heart Jehu's fained zeal Herods seeming joy no way comport with Gods will The melting frame of a weeping Peter and the spiritual 2 Kings 10. 16. agony of a praying Hannah are in Christ a sweet smelling Mark 6. 20. sacrifice to the Lord. The chief wheels in prayer in Luke 22. 62. hearing in meditating and other holy duties are the faculties 1 Sam. 1. 13. of the soul a supple will a working mind a faithfull memory embracing affections these are the musick of the Sphears in holy ordinances The care of our souls must be the signal design in all holy Ordinances It is not so grateful to perform service as to advantage the soul in service 1 Pet. 2. 2. When we come to 1 Pet. 2. 2. ordinances we must not study a secular interest or to quiet the clamours of natural conscience or to keep up a port in Religion but we must study the interest and the emolument of our souls 1. To raise them Every Duty every Sermon every Prayer should be a wing to the soul that it might fly higher towards God Duties are not onely to satisfie but to sublimate the soul to make it more heavenly and more ambitious after a crown in glory as those primitive Saints who looked upon the things of this life with disdain soaring after a better Country which was to come Heb. 11. 13 16. 2. We must study our souls in ordinances so as so quiet them to give them more peace and tranquillity Gospel seasons are not onely for the elevation but the calming of the 1 Pet. 5. 8. soul Satan disturbs sin defiles and lusts war against the Mark 7. 20. soul and the soul never finds rest till it comes to God in 1 Pet. 2. 11. ordinances and there quietly it lies at Christs feet as Mary Magdalen to receive the honey combs dropping from his lips After Hannah had prayed then she was no more sad or discomposed 1 Sam. 1. 18. When we acquaint our selves with God in holy ordinances we shall be at peace Job 22. 21. and thereby good shall come unto us 3. To spiritualize them We sow in duty we reap in grace that we may be more humble more holy more savoury and more serious in the things of God and Eternity We enjoy the glorious Gospel that we may pass from glory to glory 2 Cor. 3. 18. Means of grace are for the getting of 2 Cor. 4. 4. Eph. 3. 16. greater measures of grace we feed upon the feast of Ordinances Coâ—roborari in interiori homine est corroborari in mente in intellectu in voluntate caeterisque animae potentiis that we may be strengthned in the inward man The Apostle saith faith comes by hearing Rom. 10. 17. And the same Gospel is both the Mother and the Nurse of that heavenly grace Study therefore thy soul
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
the French Church the Tuesday the Belgick Church the Wednessday the Germans might ordain the â—â—ursday the Danes the Friday and other Churches might keep the present day to be the Lords day And so so many Churches so many Sabbaths and what intâ—llerable scandal would this procure to the Church of Christ and what feuds would it disseminate among Christians Nay how would this confusion strike the Christian profession under the fifth rib and give it its mortal wound This Ecclesiastick power and liberty would likewise open a way to revive and reduce the Jewish Sabbath Dies dominicus nomen suum adeptus fuit propter dominicae resurrectionis memoriam ad finem usque mundi celebrandum Muscul or the solemn day of the Turks which is every Fryday nay we know not with what Heathens we might concur in their weekly solemnity And when the Pagans shall well espy our dissentions how much we disagree about our Sabbath this may re-inforce their detestation both of us and our Religion Now if the Church had power to ordain the Sabbath they have likewise power to alter and change it which we see may be the womb of irreparable mischiefs Is it not then far more rational and convictive for the prevention of those miserable disorders to take the Sabbath as marked out by God himself the institution of Christ by his Apostles which is now the first day of the week a day founded and bottomed on Christs glorious Resurrection And thus the Church of Christ his little but precious flock may keep the Luke 12. 32. Vnity of the spirit in the bond of Peace No doubt then the Eph. 4. 3. Lords day is of Divine not Ecclesiastical Authority otherwise Rom. 4. 25. mens spirits would never have been so over-awed and their hands tied from presumptuous undertakings The truth is our Christian Sabbath must be built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ by his Resurrection being the chief corner stone And because nothing can fall out in the world comparable to the Resurrection of Christ in glory and power therefore no day can be set up like unto this neither can it be changed into any other The like cause can never be offered to change this day which at first occasioned the choice of it and therefore it must remain untill the end of all things And they who ever they be who go about to raze this day must first pick out Christs mark which he hath wrought into it by the work of Redemption and so blot out the testimony of the four Evangelists concerning Christs Resurrection on the first day of the week the happy Basis of our Sabbath Moreover the observation of the Lords day being fresh and frequent in the Apostles dayes they being yet alive and excercising a superintendency over the Church who should Stab Apostolis adhuc in vâ—vis dies dominicus observatus fuit meritò illorum ordinationi ascribendus est Aut enim per ipsos eorum authoritatem aut per alios ecclesiae doctores sine illorum consensu institutus erat quorum posterius est valde absurdum insulâ—um non suit ecclesiae Apostolis leges praescribere interpose to ordain this holy day of worship but themselves If any other Governors of the Church they did it either with the consent of the Apostles and then their Authority was subordinate and so swallowed up in the power Apostolical For the Apostles were the Supream guides of the Church and had the ordering of the affairs of Christs flock the care of the Churches was in the first place committed to them 2 Cor. 11. 28. Or else this Committee of Church Governors who they were where they met or what they did could never yet be discovered did appoint the Christian Sabbath against the consent of the Apostles and surely then their presumption would have been taxed in holy writ for a perpetual reproach of the thing or else they had fallen under the Pens of Ecclesiastical Historians of all which ne quis quidem not any thing appears to the most critical Observator in their most curious searches and inquisitions But it can never be imagined any should dare to impose a day of their own invention upon the Church the Apostles those infallible Spirits being yet in the land 1 Cor. 2. 16. of the living Did the Church appoint the Christian Sabbath let her be called the Lady of it and so Christ will lose his title of Si beati Apostoli ex authoritate sibi à Châ—isto delegatâ Dominicum non instituissent sed ejus observationem liberam reliquissâ—nt tum meritò diceremus ecclesiam ipsam Lord of it Mark 2. 28. which as Paraeus observes is one argument of Christs Divinity for none can be Lord of the Sabbath but he who appointed it and he whose Sabbath it is and surely such an attempt can hardly be excused of the most daring Sacriledge to rob God not of his Tythes but of his Titles and so put Christs Armes into their Scutcheons this indeed savours too much of arrogancy and it cannot be fastned on the Flock of Christ who hears his voyce and follows the accents of it And how our Sabbath should be the Lords day and yet of humane institution is such a knot I know not how to untye and am not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod tamen praeclarum testimonium est divinitatis Christi quòd ipse per Apostolos suos diem dominicum instituit Par. over-hopeful to see the Riddle unfolded by any other That the Church should give the Sabbath a being and the Lord should give it a name is such a partage I think few will own Seyrus the Casuist hath laid down a good Rule viz. The Church can abolish holy days because she determines them and custom prevails much among men but the sanctification of a day is onely from a Divine Law Let the Church then move in its own sphere and follow the letter of its Commission but to set apart a Sabbath for the World let it not avouch any such Authority this is for the Spouse Cant. 5. 4. of Christ to disturb and awaken her beloved If the Church have any such priviledge as to appoint a Sabbath for Mankind let her shew her Charter and Commission out of the Old or New Testament But it is to be supposed she can shew none sufficient to authorize her for this transcendent act to determine the solemn and sufficient Nemo est sabbati dominus nisi qui sabbatum instituit cujus sabbatum est Par. time of Gods solemn and ordinary worship Could she have brought forth her Credentials the world should not have been kept in the dark so long and if she cannot it is not so easie to impose upon mens belief all Christians are not acted by an implicite faith nor will they lean too hard upon Ecclesiastical Authority and submit because Cant. 2 7. they say so a
the Apostles with an unusual elegance â—f speech to captivate their auditours to the obedience of the Gospel and to prognosticate these rare gifts which being heated with the fire of divine zeal should fecundate and sublimate the succeeding Church but when was this unusual illapse and descent of the holy spirit Why it was on the first day of the week to put a fairer print upon the seal of our Christian Sabbath A blessed bargain was here made between Heaven and Earth 3. Scientiae lumen est et author spiritualis intelligentiae Bern. To triumphing Saints was given the corporal presence of Christ to militant Saints was sent the visible efflux of the spirit surely that cannot hut be a holy day wherein the holy Ghost came down And this is another indelible mark of honour which Christ hath fixed on the first day of the week Concludimus ergo diem hunc primum septimanae ab Apostolis Sabbatho fuisse institutum et ecclesiae commendatum non tantùm potestate ordinariâ qualem omnes pastores habent sed potestate singulari tanquam ab iis qui in universam Christi ecclesiam irspectionem habuerunt et quibus tanquam extraordinarâ—is ministris Christi concreditum est ut fideles essent Wal. our Christian Sabbath this was his royal gift when he came to heaven such a princely largess such a glorious donation as was never given before but when God gave his own Son God so loved the world that he gave his Son John 3. 16. And Christ so loved the world that he gave his Spirit And as Christ was given according to the fullness of the Promise so was the holy Ghost given And Christs resurrection and the spirits descention were both upon the first day of the week On this day then the Church was visited from on high the promise of the Father was sent Acts 1. 4. The blessed spirit came the Disciples were assembled thousands were converted as a hansel of the spirits power and a fruit of the spirits descent and why was the Church assembled on that day why the holy Ghost descended why preaching why conversion and administration of Sacraments why the promise of Christ accomplished and all on this very day But still to declare the will and ordinance of Christ blessing and sanctifying this day to the Church and so marking it out for solemn and weekly worship as a day in all its prerogatives superlative to all other dayes the day of our Saviours resurrection by which we are justified the day of the holy Ghosts descention by which we are sanctified The learned Twisse observes That Dies dominicus est Traditio vere Divina et ab Apostolis spiritu dictante instituta Beza as at the first the holy Ghost descended on the Apostles upon our Sabbath day so stili the same spirit descends ordinarily on the same day upon his faithful Ministers in the dispensation of the Word and administration of the Sacraments and in the puting up of prayers to the most high for the sanctifying and edifying the body of Christ even the Church of God The day of Christs Ascension he departed from the Apostles as touching his presence corporal but on the day of Pentecost Christ came down upon them as touching his presence spiritual and so be doth still in our Sabbath exercises though not in an extraordinary manner yet no less effectually to the edification and sanctification of our souls And here I cannot omit a rare speech of the incomparable Bishop of Armagh At the time of the Passeâ—â—eâ— saith he Christ our Passeover was sacrificed for us 1 Cor. 5. 7. and lay in his grave the whole Sabbath following so on the morrow after the Sabbath when the sheaf of the Bishop Vsher in his Learned Letter to Dr. Twisse p. 91 92. first fruits was offered to God Christ arose from the dead and became the first fruits of them whâ— slept many dead bodies of the Saints who sâ—ept arising likewise after him from whence was the count taken of the seven Sabbaths or fifty dayes and uâ—â—n the mâ—rrâ—w after the seventh Sabbath which was our Lâ—rds dâ—y was that famâ—us feast of weeks the day of Pentecost Numb 28. 2. spoken â—f Acts 2. 1. Vpon which day the Apostles having Exod. 34. 22. themselves reâ—eived the first fruits of the spirit begâ—t three Jam. 1. 18. thousand sâ—uls by the word of Truth and presented them as Rev. 4. 14. the first fruits of the Christian Church to God and unto the 1 Cor. 15. 20. Lamb And from that time forward doth Waldensis note Mat. 27. 52 53. That the Lords day was observed in the Christian Church and was suâ—stituted in the place of the Jews Sabbath Thus far Sicut pascha typus eâ—â—t Christi sic panâ—s â—â—â—mi sunt typus Christianorum eorum scil innocentiae pâ—râ—tatis Alap the famous Vsher And to wind up this particular the Holy Ghost being sent down among the Disciples in an eminent manner was the special benediction of this day to such solemn assâ—mblies to teach them and the succeeding Church when and on what day they should more especially expect the sweet illapses and effectual descents of Gods holy and most blessed spirit The Lords day was kept and sanctified by the practice of the hâ—ly Apostles Now the blessed Apostles were men intimately Praecipua regiminis ecclesiastici cura Apostolis deputata est quorum unus quisque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deinde speciali authoritate ad ecclesiam cujus fâ—ndamenta jacere Apostolicae dignitatis est ex prâ—miscâ—â omniâ— gâ—ntiâ—m multitudiâ—◠〈◊〉 Christus eâ—s misit 〈…〉 sp s gratiâ abâ—ndâ—nte ad ministerium sibi à domino commendatum erant instructissimi ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 veritatem Evangelii praedicarent acquainted w th the secrets of Christ being most of them trained up in his School and personally conversant with him after his Resurrection besides they had immediate inspiration from him and authâ—ritative mission to manage the publick affairs of the Church Our Saviour gave them their credentials to preach in his name and to act as his substitutes as if he himself had been personally present John 20. 21. Luke 10. 16. Mat. 28. 19 20. 2 Cor. 5. 19 20. Neither doth this extend only to verbal preaching but to visible preaching also I mean their practice at least in things Evangelical Moral and of general and perpetual concernmâ—nt to the Churches of Christ otherwise why is their practice propounded as a pattern Phil. 3. 17. Phil. 4. 19. 1 Cor. 11. 2. 1 Thes 2. 14. Now these blessed Apostles met for solemn worship on this day our Christian Sabbath so Acts 20. 7. And upon the first day of the week when as the Disciples came together to break bread Paul preached unto them ready to depart on the morrow and continued his speech until midnight Now the full discussion and ventilation of this solemn text will give
much strength to this great truth viz. That the Lords day is of Divine Authority In this text then note When this solemn assembly met together on the first day of the week saith the text the day which all the Evangelists witness to be Christs Resurrection day on this day the Disciples were congregated But why the first day of the week why not the last day of the week which was the old Sabbath strange if that had continued a Sabbath that the Primitive Christians had not mâ—t on that day especially seeing Vnâ— Sabbati i e. die dominiâ—o dies dominiâ—a est reâ—ordâ—tio domiâ—icae resurrectionis Vener Beda in Act. 20. Tom. 5. it was but the day before yet more strange that we hear not a word of Pauâ—s keeping it though he tarriâ—d at Troas seven dayes but most strange that wâ— read not one word in all the New Testament of Pauls owning that day in a Christian Church only he solemnly preaches to a Christian Congregation on the first day of the week Surely this is a pregnant argument that the day was changed upon the account of our Saviours Resurrection The Church was assembled on the first day of the week but how Privately it may be no Publickly and openly nay most probably the compâ—ny was very 〈◊〉 and Isa 60. 8. the Congregation flocked as Dâ—ves to the windâ—ws Here is then a full assembly mâ—t upon the â—irst â—ay of the week but for what To â—reak â—read saith the tâ—xt to receive Mat. 26 26. Acts 2. 46. 1 Cor. 11. 24. Dies dominicus ab ipsis Apostolis sacris actionibus est consecratus Bucer the Eucharist saith the Syriack translation and what more seemly and suitable then to receive thâ— Lords Supper upon the Lords day And can this be done without preparatory prayer and other Sabbath exercises Surely this would have been a mutilated and a faint devotion nay and breaking of bread is here put by a Synechdoche the part for the whole and there no more reason to exclude prayer Consentaneum est Aposlolos hanc ipsam ob causam mutos se diem Melanct singing of Psalms c. because they are not mentioned then to exclude drinking of wine in the Sacrament because neither is that expressed but breaking of bread only So then the first day of the week is here celebrated with a confluence of Gospel-Ordinances Nor is it said that Paul called the Disciples together because he was to depart the next day or that they purposedly Hoc institutum ut dies dominicus in locum Sabbati sub stitueretur non ab hominibus sed ab Apostolis sp s dictante quo regebantur nos accepisse credendum est Meritò dixerimus Apostolos sp s duce pro septimo illo die primum substituisse Faius declined the Lords Supper till that day because of Pauls departure But the Text speaks it as of a time a day usually observed by them before and therefore Paul took his opportunity of preaching to them and seems to stay on purpose and wait seven dayes among them Acts 20. 6. And at Troas where these Ordinances were observed and this day solemnly kept was the Rendezvouz of Christians to meet in the greater company Acts 20. 5. And though Paul might privately teach and instruct the Professors of Troas the other seven dayes yet his preaching is now mention'd in regard of some special solemnity in their meeting on this day The first day was honoured above any other day for these holy duties or else why did not they meet on the seventh day Sabbath and how comes that solemnity to be swallowed up in the solemn convention of the first day when these holy exercises are performed To speak then plainly with Bishop Andrews It was saith he the Lords day on which the Apostles and Disciples met the Gospels all four keep one word and tell us Christ rose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is after the Hebrew phrase the first day of the week and the Apostles then held their Synaxes their solemn conventions Mat. 28. 1. and assemblies to preach to pray to break bread or Mark 16. 2 celebrate the Lords Supper Acts 20. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 24. 1. the Lords Supper on the Lords day and this John 20. 1. is the Apostolical phrase So far this learned man So then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bishop of Ely as another Bishop speaks Our weekly observation of the Lords day is warranted by the example of the holy Apostles One sharply concludes and saith How can he have any grace in Petrus Al phons in Dialog contra Jud. Tit. 12. his heart who seeing so clearly the Lords day to have been instituted and ordained by the Apostles will not acknowledge the keeping holy the Lords day to be a Commandment of the Lord. The very Jews saith this learned man confess this change of Chrysostomus Ambrosius Theophylactus Beda Anselmus the Sabbath to have been made by the Apostles and therefore we may safely conclude with Gallasius Walaeus Melancthon Beza Bucer Faius Junius Piscator Perkins and other eminent Divines of the Reformed Religion that the Holy Sedulius et Primosius unam Sabbati Act. 20 7. 1 Cor. 16. 2. expressam interpretantur diem dominicum Apostles by the guidance of the infallible spirit removed and suppressed the old legal Sabbath and substituted the Lords day the first day of the week in its room and place Let us assume a second text which will further strengthen this truth viz. 1 Cor. 16. 2. Vpon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him that there be no gatherings when I come This solemn and noted place hath many considerables in it to prove the first day of the week to be the Christian Sabbath and that not so much by the Churches practice that was cleared before as by the Apostles precept in which many things remarkable offer themselves to our consideration Although it be true that in some cases collections may be made any day for the poor Saints yet why doth the Apostle limit here to this day the performance of this duty Surely something there is in it more then ordinary The Apostle doth not limit only the Corinthians to this 2 Cor. 11 28. Diei dominicae nomen et institationem ab Apâ—stolis derivatam non est dubitandum Estius day but also all the Churches of Galatia 1 Cor. 16. 1. and consequently all other Churches if that be true 2 Cor. 8. 13 14. where the Apostle professeth he presseth not one Church that he might ease another but that there might be an equality and then why must all the Churches make their collections on the same day The Apostle doth not limit them with wishes and counsels onely to do it but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as I have ordained or instituted In hoc Apostoli mandato nihil
with unwearied patience and unwonted alacrity they would wait upon his Ministry upon the Lords day and thought not the circuit of a Sabbath too great a compass but fill'd up the time of it in holy Devotion Indeed the Sabbath Crowns them who honour it Now Most Worthily Honoured I shall make no Applications what I could say is better seen in your practice then in my Epistle Suffer me only to be your Remembrancer those who are most spiritual lie under the motions of the Spirit if you see your selves in the Glass of this Treatise pardon me if I hold the Glass and let not my service be my offence Thus Eph. 1. 11. commending your selves your worthy Family and this Tract such as it is to the grace of him who worketh all Eph. 3. 20. things for us and in us Iremain Your faithful Servant in the Gospel of Christ John Wells TO THE READER Courteous Reader IT may be the Subject here handled may not please thy Palate because it is not some Rarity Common Dishes more quiet than please and gratifie Necessity more than Desire We are not fo fond of the Choritas ergo animas eadem feribit inculcat Amor spiritualis omne taedium absorbet omnem segnitiem Alap Herbs as of the Flowers of the Garden of those Plants which are to be put in the Pot as of those which are to lie in the bosom Reader at the first cast of thy eye upon this Book when thou seest the Sabbath to be the Theam of it thou wilt happily be apt to conclude Nihil dictum quod non dictum prius Nothing can be more said than what hath been said before And to what purpose should I survey an old Work in a new Edition An ancient person is little mended in his beauty by putting on a new Suit of Apparel The Sabbath hath been often discussed by the Pens of Learned men Nay the Rest of God hath had little Rest from Men there hath been so many Tracts and Treatises about it Now to take away this pretended Surfeit and so to bring the Reader to an Appetite It is answered first That most Tracts upon the Sabbath have been Polemicà l they have Mr. War been the jars and digladiations of Divines Mr. C. and some contending whether the last or the first day of the week be our Sabbath some striving Mr. P. whether the whole day be to be given to God Mr. L. Estr or only part and the rest may be spent in corporal Mr. Bys Refreshments or delightful Recreations Other Controversies are started and handled Dr. Tw whether the Lords day be bottomed upon Ecclesiastical Mr. Ab. or Divine Authority Whether the Sabbath was first founded in Paradise or upon Mount Sinai in the first delivery of the Decalogue VVhether we must begin the Sabbath in the Evening on the Saturday or early on the Morning on the Lords day c. These and the like Polemicks have for the most part filled those Pages which have been written upon the Sabbath Now broken strings make no musick in the Ears of the people Theological Debates are fitter for the Schools than the Vulgar Pro con more disquiet than satisfie the ordinary Reader Many have written upon the Sabbath occasionally as that Subject hath been brought in among others in their Volumes designed to some more comprehensive purpose Many Mr. G. have spent some leaves upon the Sabbath by Mr. Thom. the bye the Sabbath hath been the Branch Mr. S. not the Tree the Flower not the Garden It hath onely taken up some inconsiderable part of the work which they have exposed to the Worlds view Now occasional Diversions can put no Nausea upon full Treatises no more than the putting of a Flag into a Cockboat can stop the building of a Ship There are some who have written upon the Sabbath doctrinally without any application to Conscience the principal design of these Mr. Gr. Writings hath been to inform the Judgment Dr. B. and settle the Mind Conduct hath been more Mr. Walk aimed at than Conversation and Opinion Mr. B. more consulted than manners The end of Mr. G. these Books hath been rather to preserve us from Errour than prophaneness from mistake than miscarriage Now Reader the designe of the ensuing Introduxit me Rex in cellaâ—â— vinariâ—m inquit ponsa hoc est jussit introire ad Altare Dei illiâ— sumere calicem salutarem Domini Del. Rio. Treatise is different from all these it aimes more at the Heart than the Head at our practice than at our judgment it is more for reformation than information The designe of this Tract is to be a Munduction to lead us to a right keeping of a Sabbath how to converse with God and banquet with Jesus upon his own day how to spend the Lords day exactly according to the Lords will This Tract shoots at Conscience if possible to wound it for Sabbath-sin and to win it to Sabbath-holiness It is an Alarm rather than an Asterisk to call us to the sanctity of a Sabbath than to point at the Criticisms of it or its bare knowledge Other Treatises have vindicated the Sabbath from false glosses this presseth the Sabbath upon Christian practices and is put out to bear testimony against the scandalous abuses of that sacred and heavenly Day But supposing there should be some coincidency with former Tracts in this present Treatise as oftentimes there is a similitude in Pictures when they are drawn for several persons yet Courteous Reader let it not be impertinent that I should be thy Remembrancer the Apostle Paul writes the same things to the Philippians Phil. 3 1. which were before suggested to them and Apostolus eadem repetit ut ex cautis fiâ—nt cautiores et tutiores à periculis et sic haec praxis nec inutilis est nec molesta Zanch. he saith It was not grievous to him but safe for them Philip of Macedon had an Officer on purpose to mind him every Noon at Dinner of his death and mortality the same Message did impress not nauseate him things of concernment are never too much riveted upon us Now Sabbath-holiness is not onely our obedience but our interest not onely conforms to God but concerns our precious and immortal souls And it is to be observed the Nail is Eccles 12. 11. fastned by the Master of the Assemblies a servant may bring it but the Master must fasten it the same things if spiritual may please but not nauseate a gracious soul The general prophaneness which at this day casts a black veil upon the face of Gods Facit indignatio versum blessed Sabbath calls for some to pluck it off and rend it deep wounds must have the more Balm to heal them and the more Vinegar to wash them Sometimes the Times as well as Theams find work and employment for the Pen what Pages doth devout
be taken up in the worship of God And thus at this time both Church and State united to suppress sensual Recreations on Gods holy day and indeed Dies festas Majestatialtissimae dedicatos nullis voluptatibus volumus occupari C. Lib. 12. Tit. 12. how irrational is this that mans sense must be flattered in that juncture of time when his soul is to be feasted how comes it that a Sabbath is so tedious that there is a need of pastime to wear it away and so the burthen may be lightned It is charged upon the carnal and covetous Israelites that they wisht the Sabbath over but this is censured as such a sin as God threatens with the worst of judgements a famine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theod. ad Graec. Infid Serm. 9. Amos 8. 5. compared with v. 8. 11. Ludi nostri esse debent sacrae cantiones verbi divini lectiones aegretori visitationes afflictorum consolationes pauperum sustentationes Zanch. in Col. of the Word nay such a sin as will shake a Land and make it tremble Learned Zanchy hath an excellent Speech Our Playes on a Sabbath should be Holy Singings Scripture readings visitation of the Sick comforting of the Afflicted and supporting of the Poor These are the delights of a savoury spirit and a gracious soul I am sure that of the Apostle is seasonable on a Sabbath If any man will make merry let him sing Psalms James 5. 13. This is a comfortable James 5. 13. Ordinance and a spiritual Recreation Christ is an inclosed Garden Cant. 4. 12. And can we complain of the Cant. 4. 12. want of delight who have such a Garden to walk in Sensual pastimes for the most part they are useless impertinencies the Parenthesis of mans life but on the Lords day these are unjustifiable vanities and let Reason bring in its suffrage to condemn these unseasonable Sports and Recreations Recreations on a Sabbath they are impediments to duty The Bishop of Ely our adversary in this point grants that Sports and Recreations are prohibited on the Lords day so Bishop of Ely p. 217. far forth as they are impediments to Religious and Evangelical duties Now how they should be otherwise is not easily discernible for do not Recreations possess the mind divert the intention withdraw from spiritual duties hinder the service of Christ and fill the heart with froth and vanity And are not sports usually the very leekage of Corruption When we bowle what do we think on but the byass and the game When we shoote what are we intent upon but our aime and the mark I instance in these two because they are especially urged as lawfull on the Sabbath Let us saith Greenham Cease from Games Sports Exercises and such like things of less necessity but great impediments to the Greenh p. 825. Sabbath Is it to be supposed that we frame our Spirits or compose our hearts for divine conveâ—se on a bowling green What is this but to fancy we should meet with the gracious visitations of God at a Stage-play An adversary in C. D. p. 52. this point hath these words Such is the reverence that is due to the publick duties of Devotion that they require not onely a surcease from other works and thoughts for the time of the performance but also a decent preparation beforehand that so our thoughts and affections which are naturally bent upon the world and not easily withdrawn from it may be raised to a disposition befitting so sacred an imployment This is most piously and worthily concluded Let me reassume what is here granted And must not our thoughts be as much taken up in digesting of the word as in preparing for it in meditating on Ordinances when over as in disposing our selves for them when to come Meat is not healthfull as Psal 1. 2. onely put into the mouth but as chewed swallowed and Non tantum lectio sed et meditatio digested The sacred Ordinances of Christ must be followed with critical inquiries divine and serious meditations servent prayers or they will fall short of the intended work and design of them The seed when thrown into the ground Acts 17. 11. must be covered with snow warmed with sunshines watered Aug. de temp Serm. 251. with showers or it will yield no expected crop and harvest And if it be so I see not where Recreations can find any place which are nothing else but incumberances as St. Augustine speaks Recreations on the Sabbath they are the snares of the flesh they are onely pleasing temptations with a fair colour like the Apple which drew our first Parents to a breach of Gods Gen. 3. 6. will it was pleasant to behold The Jews first Feasted on Sanè Sabbathum festus dies cùm fuerit cò hilaria agere judaeis consuetum suit quae eò demum abierunt ut illa ad insanas saltationes et plausus abuterentur Leid Prof. the Sabbath then danced frantickly and grew excessively prophane as the Professors of Leiden observe These pleasing sports how often do they draw the tongue to sinfull slipperiness inflame the eye with lust and wantonness and put the heart into a carnal frame nay too frequently seduce to excess and intemperance And as Augustine in the forementioned place saith They press down the Soul from being lift up to a Heavenly Life Our corrupt heart need not the insinuation of sports and pastimes to broach it that it may run with levity and prophaneness Gods holy Sabbath needs not such engines of corruption Aug. Serm. de tempore Recreations on Gods blessed Sabbath They are the very canker of Ordinances they eat out the very heart and force of them Sports will easily and naturally rub off convictions take off the gust and sweetness we have tasted in the Word and wear off the impressions of Prayer and of other solemn duties all which with the sound of the Gospel we have partaked of evaporates and is lost When we have conversed with God in Ordinances how many things lye at the catch to invalidate their power Satan is ready to steal Mat. 13. 19. away the Word our hearts to damp and quench the efficacy Sicut in seminando ager praeparandus est nisi operam et laborem cum semente perdere velimus cor ad audiendum verbun dei praeparandum est et deus diligenter orandus tum ex parte conciona toris tum ex parte auditoris Lyser of it the world to charm away the sweet musick of it and there is need of meditation prayer and holy and sanctified means to keep alive the fire of the Word in the soul and therefore unseasonably we flush our selves with Recreations and Pastimes to bury all in distast or forgetfulness The use of sports will inevitably make our Righteousness like the morning dew which the heat of play and delights will suddenly dry up Nay if the Cares of the world as our Saviour
speaketh will choak the Word much more the pleasures of the world when they are more soft and sutable to delicate flesh and corrupt nature As in the Primitive Times more Apostates were made by the flatteries of Julian then the fires of Dioclesian and smiles more harm'd the Church then smarts Nothing more likely then to shoote away bowle away whatever we have been affected with Hos 6. 4. in holy Ordinances and Administrations Mat. 13. 22. Nay the very Liturgy of our English Church composed with so much exactness and deliberation as is often urged by the admirers of it commands the fourth Commandment to be read as well as the other nine and there pardon is begg'd for the breaches of this Commandment for time past Lord have mercy upon us and then Grace is importun'd to observe it better for the time to come where it is prayed and incline our hearts to keep this Law Where these three things are considerable 1. That by the Sabbath the Church understands the Lords day only 2. That she takes the observation of the Lords day founded upon the fourth Commandment 3. That she intended that day to be kept as a Sabbath and therefore begs pardon and grace which if so there can be no room for unnecessary labours and needless Recreations both which are but presumptuous incroachments on Gods appropriated day As holy Augustine forbad hunting and all worldly pleasures And Leo the Emperour Nullis Augustine Leo the Emperour volumus voluptatibus occupari Our will is No pleasures to be used as being the great obstructions to the spirituality of a Sabbath they discomposing the soul for sublime and heavenly intercourses to be spiritually raised and to be pleasurously 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Rev. 10. addicted on the Lords day being strange inconsistencies Recreations on the Sabbath they are too much the evidence of a formal spirit To the holy soul the Temple is his Triumph Prayers his pleasure Ordinances his delight the Sanctuary his satisfaction David counts one day in Gods Courts better then a thousand Flashy and frivolous Recreations Psal 84. 10. on a Lords day to a gracious spirit they are his little-ease and the clipping of his wing the Souls confinement and Psal 63. 2. restraint the Prison grate between him and Christ no way his Pleasure but his Purgatory and where they are received Psal 43. 4. with gratefulness and contentment they loudly Proclaime too much froth and vanity David danced at the enjoyment of Cant. 2. 4. the Ark but these leave the Ark to sport and dance 2 Sam. 6. 16. Recreations on the Lords day They are the debasements of spiritual mercies as if there were no captivating power in Divine Ordinances to hold the soul intent for a day no Psal 19. 10. Psal 42. 4. honey comb in the Word to please the taste no pleasing vent in prayer to ease and satisfie the Soul as if singing of Psalms made no musick and reading the Scriptures did yield no delight Ah with what patience and content did the Jewes hear the Law read in the time of Nehemiah The people stood Nehem 8. 7. in their place saith the Text quoted as if they were staked and fastened without any desire of removal Their serious attention chained them to their present station Paul preached Acts 20. 7. till midnight the sweet Oracles of God drowned all wearisomness and distaste Ordinances have a savour in them Rom. 3. 2. which refresh and raise the Saint and there is no need of carnal sports to wear off any tedious abhorrency To affect or use these pastimes on the Sabbath is to embase the value of Divine exercises and to charge holy duties with abortive Hos 9. 14. emptiness as if they were barren wombs and dry breasts Let the Umpirage in this case be referred to the holy Psalmist in the Text quoted in the Margin Psal 1. 2. Recreations on the Sabbath they are the spring of impertinent discourse which is expresly forbidden in the Text for saith the Text Nor speaking thy own words In our sports more especially Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak as our Saviour saith Sports are the very Mat. 12. 34. Malitiae sermonis sons est malitia cordis ex quo necessi est ejusmodi maledicta per os ebullire sicut ex faetido fonte non possunt nisi fatidae aquae per fâ—stulas effundi Par. Dr. B. Mark 6. 22. Mark 6. 27. James 3. 6. Peccatum quod alter incurrit operando tuum facis obloquendo fuel of vain and frothy discourse A holy man observes That some men they never make an end of their pleasures nor an end of talking and hearing of them their Hawkes are not only on their fists but on their tongues There are two things which spring a mine of impertinent discourse Feasts and Sports We may as well separate blackness from the cloud as frothy language from frothy pleasures Nay how often are pastimes stained with sinful protestations the fatal taking of Gods Name in vain nay with Execrations and Oaths the scum of Hell it self Where did Herod make his wretched promise which was died in the blood of the Baptist but at a dancing when Herodias her Daughters feet did not trip so much as Herods tongue And if at any time the tongue is set on fire of hell as the Apostle James speaks Games and Pastimes presently become the bellows to blow up the fire Sports are usually the tongues Courtizan to draw it to folly and wanton intemperance with frothy rejoycings and carnall triumphs nay heats and passions are mixt with our recreations and the tongue is to proclaim them The mirth which attends pastimes will not be cag'd up in the breast but will fly out inimpertinent and unsavory language How often in sports do we call our Brother fool and yet our Saviour Iracundiae litis vanitatis censurae verba a Satana procedunt et ad Satanam tendunt illic incipiunt et illic rapiunt Mat. 6. 22. Psal 39. 1. saith that very expression puts us in danger of hell fire And therefore let any serious Christian make his own conscience the Tribunal to which I dare appeal whether this flatulent and unseemly discourse the inseparable companion of Games and Pastimes be not a sinful undecency on Gods holy Sabbath and an opposition to the very Text surely then if ever with David we should take heed we offend not with our tongue Recreations on a Sabbath They are an indignity offered to the noble and precious soul Shall the body that mass and Isa 2. 22. pile of dust cemented onely with a little flying breath that Corpus est ergastulum animae Plato bag of flegm and cholar that prison of the soul as Plato used to call it enjoy the time of six whole dayes and the soul that piece of eternity in the bosome the breath of God the saving
piece of Reformation well becoming the Care and Conscience of the best of Princes 4. By the Law Ecclesiastical especially that Homilie of our Church which is established by a political Law which Hom. Of the time place of worship forbids all Labour and requires us wholly to give our selves to Religious Exercises and so by consequence strongly forbids and prohibits all kind of Recreations and the same Homilie forbids all toyish talking on the Lords day and so a majori ad minus from the greater to the lesser sports and pastimes Now therefore what is thus prohibited by the Law of God Nature Church and State is certainly a sinfull practice Recreations on a Sabbath are the wasts of time they alienate the time of a Sabbath from the intention of the Law-giver God never sanctified a piece of a day or ever set apart a few hours onely of his holy day for his service and worship and left the remainder to mans disposal either to pursue his Games or Delights Such sinfull encroachments Mat. 9. 16. to use our Saviours phrase are onely the putting a piece of new cloth to an old Garment Obj. And if the plea of the labouring person be brought in who labours hard all the week and therefore lays claim to Recreations on the Sabbath especially if it be considered that God will have Mercy and not Sacrifice To this plea and apology Mat. 12. 7. it may be replyed Sol. 1 This Argument may as well proceed against the Old Sabbath as against the Lords day and yet it is generally confessed Exod. 20. 8 9 10 11. that the Lord enjoyned the Jews a whole day and allowed them no bodily recreations on the Sabbath and therefore it is no violation of mercy to deny the like on the Lords day Ad minutula et leviora quibus nec corpus fatigatur nec mens à cultu avocatur ad illa non attendendum quia illa anxietatem potius servilem quà m libertatem filialem respicium modò libertatem illam in licentiam carnis non vertamus Wal. James 4. 14. The word Recreation is equivocal Indeed there is a Recreation which is mercy viz. the necessary refreshment of the body as eating drinking resting it self especially to those who have wearied themselves with labour yea to some sickly bodies some ordinary moderate and inoffensive Recreations may be allowed as a learned man observes But there is a Recreation which we call sports and pastimes when there is no necessity and to allow this is no work of mercy and if it be a mercy to the body it is severity to the soul and in this case God will have sacrifice and no such kind of mercy which pleases the fancy and the corrupt heart of man against the advantage of his better part This is to rob the soul that bears the Image of God to pay the body which beareth the Image of death and frailty The greatest mercy which can be shewed to such as labour hard all the week is to give them rest for their bodies and divine refreshments and recreations for their souls and for Dr. Turners Sermon at VVhitehall 1635. this the Lord himself was carefull And if their bodies have rest and repose the greatest mercy is mercy to their soul to breath the soul in holy meditation to draw out the soul Sic agamus in Sabbatho ut deum in nobis agere patiamur atque ita aeternum inchoemus Sabbathum Wal. Cant. 1. 7. Cant. 2. 5. in holy prayer to refresh the soul with divine truth to recreate the soul with singing of psalms to bring the soul to holy ordinances where it may meet with its Beloved these are the very spirits of mercy when Christs stays his beloved on a Sabbath with Flaggons and Apples in Gospel dispensations And if any desire to be mercifull the way is not to steal it from God but to allow it of his own Let the Labourer take his rest on his own day And some well observe If the Mr. C. and Mr. P. Voluptatem vicisse est mâ—â—ima voluptâ—s neque est â—lla major victoria quà mquae à upiditatibus refertur Cypr. Sabbath be Gods it is no more true mercy to permit bodily recreations on that day then it is mercy to give men leave to steal other mens goods on the Sabbath because they have fared hard all the week before the person offending in the first bâ—ing far more guilty Can it be rational that Gods Commands should wait on mans conveniencies and happily this conveniency is created from mans neglect not necessity But supposing it was mercy to permit some bodily recreation which yet cannot be granted to such as have laboured hard all the week long yet what is that to such who have laboured very little or nothing in the week to such whose week is nothing but a Sabbath a rest and time of leasure and vacation and yet these are most ready to call and clamour for sports and recreations on the Lords day But as one wittily observes Those who are not annihilated Dr. Paul Micklethwait with hard labour have no title or claim to be recreated created again by delight and liberty If any can pretend to this plea They are such whose cheeks are moystened with sweat and hands hardned with toyle and work all the Epicuri disciplina multò ceâ—ebrior est non quia aliquid boni afferat sed quia multos ad populare nomen voluptatis invitat Lactant. Lib. 3. Divin week but such are most silent and modest in their claim and pretentious and therefore it cannot be any mercy to such who spend their time in Courtships and Dalliancings who converse like a wanton Epicurus or a plump Anacreon whose whole life is nothing else but a recreation and a successive chain of pleasures and worldly satisfactions and yet these as I said are they who are most importunate for sports and pastimes on Gods holy day And therefore to reassume that Argument from which we have a little diverted Recreations on the blessed Sabbath are inexcusably the wasts of that time which is wholly dedicated to the service of God and the soul as now comes to be shewed CHAP. V. The Whole Sabbath is to be spent with God THere are many persons both of Eminency and Learning who have taken much pains to prove the lawfulness of sports and pastimes on the Lords day I shall onely reply it was heartily to be wished such great parts had been improved on some other subject and the stream of Nemo non in â—itia proâ—â—â— est illâ— vincere diffiâ—illi mum est Lactant. their sweat had run in some other channel Alas in this Argument mans corrupt Nature will be the bâ—st Orâ—tour and produce the strongest pleâ—s we are naturally enâ—lined to fleshly ease and the flatteries of sense as other things which hasten to the Center Nature I say here can plead its own Qâ—i hâ—â—erâ— viciâ—
shady Ceremonies which were to teach the Children of Israel But our Sabbath is of a higher and nobler nature not covered with so much darkness nor subject to so much decay and therefore if God be so punctual Mark 2. 28. and exact in his time in these flitting solemnities which were to cease at the very first dawning of the Gospel Ah how much more on his fixed Sabbath the souls weekly banqueting day with the Lord Jesus the blessed Lord of the Sabbath Hiâ— verò infertur ut aeqâ—â—â—â—s quâ—rti praecepti patesâ—â—t nempe quod deus benignè nobiscum vildè agit qui cum sex dies nobis relinquat unum tantùm in septimanâ diem sibi postulat Wal. Mic. 6. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Tom. 5. Nos illorum Apostolorum sequentes traditionem dominicum diem divinis conventibus sequestramus Isich in Levit. Cap. 9. And fourthly yet further to clear this truth we must conclude To abate any thing of spending a whole day with God is but the wanton abuse of divine indulgence The Sabbath is a price God puts into our hands and to play and sport upon it is to trample upon our pearls And truly God hath so smoothed and sweetned the fourth Commandment with so much equity and kindness in giving us six dayes and taking to himself but one that to break this Commandment is but the greater evidence of obstinacy and stubbornness and indeed to those who encroach upon his Sabbath by their toyle and their pastimes God may frame the same expostulation which once he made to back-sliding Israel What iniquity have you found in me wherein have I wearied thee come testifie against me Have I roughed my Commâ—ndmenâ—s with any grievous severity have I not given you six dayes and reserved to my self onely one And must part of that one day be prostituted to the flatteries of sin to vain sports and unprofitable recreations is not this to abuse my â—â—ve and sport with my indulgence Nay to crumble the Sabbath into so many pieces and divisions to spend part of it in holy services part of it in civil labours and part of it in sensual pleasures it is nothing else but so to disfigure the Sabbath that neither Divine command nor Apostolical institution will know it so as to own it to be their issue and production We may likewise fetch an Argument from the Text it self which commands our delight in the holy Sabbath We must Isa 53. 13. Sabbatum est delicatum i. e. delicatè tenerè observandum delicatum i. e. delitiae tui domini Deus enim capiet mognam delectationem ex religioso sui cultu in Sabbato Alap in Isai call the Sabbath our delight saith the Text. Now can this be consistent with that delight and complacency a Christian should take in the Sabbath after a few hours to break from holy services and spiritual duties to gad after the pleasures or profits of the World To refresh their wearied and tyred selves with a bowle or a foot-ball and to leave Communion with God to recreate their selves with a fit of masking dancing or shooting Surely our delights in Gods holy day are weak and faint if they must be fetcht again and revived with such loose and vain satisfactions Indeed it argues a very vain and frothy spirit to have no more pleasure in Gods day then to spend a good part of it in vain talk and idleness in rioting and wantonness in sports and foolishness It cannot be imagined that any men who ever tasted any sweetness in Christ or his Sabbath and felt the Sponsa Christum laudans ab oculis crsa est sed cur quontam cum amantes aspectu mutuo nequeant satiari et semper abaltero ad intuentis oculion imago gratior reflectatur et fit ut crescat admiratio et simul laudandi cupiditas neque in hacre sit ullus modus Et oculi sunt amoris duces Del. Rio. unknown refreshings of his holy Rest but that they will mourn for their cold affections and that they have not spent their Sabbath more accurately and exactly Certainly those who plead and inveigh much against the strict observation of Gods holy day never fully tasted what the Sabbath was and what the glory and excellency of it Is the Majesty and Glory of God so vile in our eyes that we do not think him worthy of special attendance one day in a week doth he call us now to rest in his bosome on his holy Sabbath and do we kick his bowels and despise his bounty Doth he call upon us to spend this day in holiness and shall we spend it or at the least part of it in mirth sports and pastimes and in all manner of vanity Where are our longings and breathings after Christ upon a Sabbath Were holy duties gratefull to us we should not so soon shake them off we should not make the time of a Sabbath like the vail of the Temple at Christs death to be rent in twain viz. between the Lord and the World whereas one bone of Christ was not to be broken so not one hour of this day Psal 42. 1 2. here we must say as Christ of the fragments gather up the fragments let nothing be lost It is perilous to clip the Mat. 27. 51. Kings Coyne and very dangerous to clip the Lords day Joh. 19. 36. let us not with Annanias and Saphira bring half the price Mark 6. 43. This holy time was never ours nor ever was there any part Acts 5. 2. thereof in our power therefore to keep back any hour of this holy day must needs be sinfull If no part of this day be the Lords why do we give him any And if the whole Communio nostra est cum Patre et Filio et in Patre cum Filio sunt omnia vera et coelestia bona Zanch. be the Lords as certainly it it why do we put him off with part But there would be no need of these questions were our delight in Gods holy day and were our hearts captivated with Divine Communion Delight sweetens duty and makes it easie and pleasurous That Sabbath cannot be long which is complacential David did request to spend not onely the Sabbath but his life in the Temple and counted 1 John 1. 3. one day in Gods house better then a thousand It is nothing but a carnal frame of spirit disgusting the things of Psal 27. 4. God makes the Sabbath tedious and wearisome and seeks to break open the Cage door that it may fly out to its sensual Psal 84. 10. delights and recreations Was the Sabbath our delight we should not cast lots upon it which should have most of it God or the World holy duties or trashy pastimes Our own Conveniency and advantage calls for the whole day of a Sabbath to be spent in holy and spiritual services Sabbatha docent perseverantiam totius diet Iren.
contr Valent for the gain we acquire in publick Ordinances will easily be lost if not followed with private duties It is private meditation private repetition and private devotion must fasten truth on the soul which we have heard in publick The fruit we have enjoyed in publick will presently be blasted by pastimes and sports which withdraw and James 1. 23. In Sabbato occupari nos debemus in laâ—dando dei nomine usque ad vesperam Concil Turon alienate the soul from the very duties it had newly been employed in Happily in the publick Ordinances we saw the face of Christ in some measure if presently we fly to vain Recreations we shall as the Apostle James speaks straightway forget what manner a beloved our Beloved was What was delivered in the Pulpit is best impressed on the soul in the Closet and secret approaches can best set home publick ordinances Our tears we shed at home must importune a Nihil efficacius est ad verbi divini fructus et spiritus sancti igniculos in nâ—bis suffocardos quam vel profana vel nimis mundana oblectamentorum consectatio Wal. blessing upon truths we have heard abroad It is the Observation of a Learned man Nothing more effectually quencheth the sparks of the divine spirit kindled in Ordinances then the pursuance of earthly and worldly Delights and therefore he thinks the safest manner of observing the Sabbath is not onely to sanctifie it in the publick Congregations but in our private Houses not onely in solemn Ordinances but in private Duties And if we pursue publick private and secret Duties which yet are so necessary on a Sabbath what time will be left for labour or sportfull refreshments So then the whole Sabbath must be spent with God And if the Jewish Sabbath was to consist of twenty four hours much more the Christians But the first is most true for the whole time of a Sabbath was required of them to be Exod. 20. 8. sanctified in holy duties in opposition to their own works As for the nights we dispute it not they were allowed to Mysteria Evangelii in aeternum adoranda contemplanda rest that night as well as we Now then if the Jews were bound to spend a whole day all their waking time in divine and holy services much more we Christians for we have received greater benefits we have greater mysteries of Godliness to contemplate and greater means to help us in the 1 Tim. 3. 16. contemplation Our field is larger our light is clearer our service is sweeter we have our Sabbath to behold the face Cant. 5. 10. of our Beloved and what work more engaging and complacential The very Heathens by the light of Nature gave their Gods no less then a whole day and would not suffer any work to be done on those holy dayes So Macrobius tells us Macrob. de diebus festis That the services of their Gods were partly diurnal and partly nocturnal and that the Flamines were to see to it that no works were to be done on their holy dayes Nay one of our Adversaries in this particular confesseth freely As the time in which such Religious Actions are done so that some day C. Dow p. 21. or dayes should be destinated for the more solemn performance of those actions may seem to be a dictate of the Law of Nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. Lib. 5. Stromat inasmuch as the Heathens who had no other Guide had their solemn Feasts and set dayes in all Ages consecrated to the worship of their Gods And therefore for Christians to give less then a day is to fall short of an Heathen Nay Scaevola an High Priest among them affirmed That the wilfull Offender who observed not strictly three dayes consecrated to their Gods could have no Expiation And what a shame is it for Christians that Jupiter should have more solemn and constant worship then Jehovah that an Idol God should have a whole day but the Almighty must onely have a part the rest to be drowned in sensual pleasures or worldly toyle Heu facinus Is not this to let the light of a glow worm out-shine the light of the Sun the light of Nature out-vie the light of the Gospel Never let those Gods who have eyes and see not have more durable and continued worship then our God who is Omniscient those Gods who have ears and Psal 115. 4 5 6. hear not have more solemn adorations then our God who is a God hearing prayer those Gods who are Silver and Psal 65. 2. Gold be better served then the blessed and Holy One the God of Jacob who is an infinite spirit Obj. But if it be objected it is very tyring and tedious to pass the whole current of a day in holy services and spiritual communion and this might make us cry out with the holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 2. 16. Apostle in another case Who is sufficient for these things To this it may be briefly replyed God because of our infirmities doth afford what may refresh and the better to bear up our bodies allows moderate sleep in the night and temperate food in the day True it was in Tertullians time a dispute whether it be not a duty Tertul. de Coronâ militis Cap. 3. to fast on the Lords day but our Saviours Apology for his Disciples in plucking and eating the ears of Corn on the Sabbath day may easily quiet that Question and blessed be the Mar. 2. 25. Lord for his allowances of love Nature even on the Sabbath hath both its Nurse and its Caterer its sleep and its provisions Men do not complain of whole dayes for the world they rise early and go to bed late and eat the bread of carefulness Psal 127. 2. they do not say all the week when the morning is would to God it was evening but rather in the evening wish it were morning again to go after the world afresh Nay we find many in their sinful wayes are unwearied and when Isa 56. 12. 2 Tim. 4. 8. Rev. 3. 21. Cant. 8. 14. Montes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sunt sedos Angelorum Beatorum coeli sunt mansiones civium Coelestium Del. Rio. one day is past they fix upon the very next day with enlarged resolutions And shall Heaven with its Crown of Righteousness its Throne of Glory its ravishing Felicities and mountains of Spices no more influence us but that one day spent in the pursuance of it should seem tedious and burdensome and we should impatiently wish would the Sabbath was over that we might again busie our selves in in the affairs of the world It is strange that neither divine command nor divine rewards should clip our wings but that we will be flying even on the Lords day into the pleasing embraces of a sensual delight or secular emolument Many of Gods Servants the Excellent of the earth and the darlings of
much talk upon the Sabbath about worldly affairs doth as much hinder the sanctification of the day as much work nay we may work alone but we cannot talk alone and so we must hinder others as well as our selves Discourse it either doth cast a stench or a perfume among others according as it is good or bad Now let us take these five Glasses to see the sin of vain discourse on the Sabbath day We may see it in the clear Glass of a Command Frothy language is onely the foam of a carnal heart at any time much more on the Sabbath it is alwayes the breath of vanity Eph. 4. 29. and therefore called corrupt communication by the Apostle who here severely forbids all such communication And indeed Mar. 12. 36. worldly discourse on the Sabbath is no less then corrupt discourse putrid rotten and unsavoury language which is prohibited by a strict command Eph. 4. 29. The same Apostle saith Evil communication corrupts good manners I am 1 Cor. 15. 33. sure it corrupts good Sabbaths it is nothing but spittle cast Versus hic est senarius menandri ait Hier. Mar. 16. 19. upon the face of a Sabbath its affront and shame prophane talkers dealing with the day of a Sabbath as the Jews with the Lord of the Sabbath they spit in its face In the Glass of Example Should I reassume the divine example of our dear Lord Luke 14. 7. No pattern more pure and pregnant his language on a Sabbath was as the dropping Luk. 14. 7. of a honey comb the langudge of Heaven the triumph of Acts 20. 27. words the salvifical discoveries that he brought from his Fathers bosome But let me lay down the wonted custome of a late Minister now with God Holy Mr. Dod briefly he thus Mr. Dod. spent his Sabbath He preacht almost all day long on the Mr. Clark in the life of Mr. Dod. Lords day first in the morning he opened a Chapter and prayed in his Family after preached twice in publick and in the interim discoursed all dinner while to those who sat with him at his Table he would say this is not a day Quà m augusta erit ista Synodus in quâ convenient omnes sancti cujus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 erit Christus in quâ non erit necessarium sollicitè inquirere veritateâ—â— sed omnia omnibus erunt nota et manifesta to feast the body but the soul at the first sitting down he would bid them help themselves and one another and see none want let me said he bid you but once for I would not speak a vain word to day After the two Sermons in publick were ended the house would be filled and then he would fit in his chair and then he used to say if any one have a good question or a hard place of Scripture to open let them say on and when he was faint would call for somâ— refreshment and so on again till night And thus this man of God spake nothing but the language of God on the blessed Sabbath of God This sin of using unholy language on the Sabbath may be seen in the Glass of Equity If idle discourse be not forbidden in the fourth Commandment then that Commandment is straighter and not so comprehensive as the rest for the sixth Commandment doth not only prohibit bloody 1 John 3. 15. murder but the very hating of our brother the seventh Commandment doth not onely forbid acts of Adultery but Mat. 5. 28. Quod fecit Christus in casu homicidii hoc etiam facit in casu Adulterii et non actum solummodo sed impudicum quoque coercet aspectum ut discos â—bi consistat illuâ— quod sepra Scriburum et Pharisaeorum nostra precipitur obundare justitia Chrysost lascivious looks wanton glances nay effeminate speculations and shall not the fourth Commandment be as large to condemn worldly discourses as well as secular labours Or shall our obedience to the Commandments of the second table be more exact and strict then our conformity to the Commandments of the first Shall our behaviour be more precise to our neighbour then to our God Surely he that hath said we must not work on the Sabbath hath likewise said we must not word it on a Sabbath about our secular affairs our bargains our pleasures our pleasing vanities In the Glass of Religion We should converse as Saints on Gods holy day our language then more especially should Mat. 26. 73. betray us to belong to Jesus Christ Every thing should be Qnemad modum Moses et Elias in transfigurations cum Christo colloquuntur sic in vitâ aeternâ vigebunt inter sanctes perpetua et jucundissima colloquia Gerard. Rev. 1. 10. Psal 39. 1. holy on a Sabbath we should converse with God in holy duties tread accurately in holy practices breath out nothing but holy affections trade in nothing but holy devotions and edifie one another with holy discourses Vain and idle talking becomes not those who would serve God more seraphically then others and who are in the spirit upon the Lords day Where are our hearts when our tongues range and licentiate in sinfull liberties Religion will cause a Saint to make a Covenant with his tongue on this day that the offend not with his lips At this time our tongues should be a mine of Gold not a pile of Dross And lastly we may see this sin of foolish talking on a Sabin the Glass of future Glory The glorified Saints converse Neque enim beati erunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed suavissimos invicem sermones conserent de admirandis divinae sapientiae decretis de stupendis divinae potentiae operibus de infinitis divinae gratiae et bonitatis argumentis Ger. one with another in a most holy manner What the method or the way is of their Communications one with another is not so easily discernable but this is clear that it is most holy We should study to spend our Sabbaths here as we shall spend them above in all holy and divine communications there shall be no vain word no senseless prate about the things of this life Let us begin Heaven betimes and in observing a temporal eye our Eternal Sabbath CHAP. VII The Text further opened and explained ANd thus I have run through the negative directions in Isa 58. 13. the Text I now come to the positive There is something Commanded as well as some thing prohibited on a Sabbath something for us to do as well as something for us to forbear Now these practical and positive directions they are not very many but very rare and what they want in number they make up in weight they are ponderous though not numerous and they are principally four like the four Elements to constitute the holy observation of a Sabbath There is a Command for delight so the Text and call the Sabbath a delight Our Sabbaths must be our
satisfaction not our burden but our blessing the sinner must not Psal 27. 4. Mat. 18. 20. take that pleasure in the dalliances of the world as we should do in the duties of a Sabbath This is the day of divine loves and spiritual complacencies between Christ and Cant. 2. 3. Delitias tum tuas tum Domini Alap the soul when Christ and the Soul meet together in the Garden of the Ordinances where they begin that communication which shall last to Eternity then the believer sits under the shadow of Christ with great delight As God makes the Sabbath his rest so he would have it to be ours The Sabbath must not be our toyle but our triumph the Sanctuary must be our banqueting house Duty our delight Psal 42. 3. 4. It must be the joy of our souls to associate with Christ to pour out our requests in prayer to entertain the discourses of divine will and to enjoy spiritual love which is better then wine The Sabbath in the primitive times was called Cant. 1. 2. Nos in primâ die perfecti Sabbathi festivitate laetamur Hilar. in Prol. in Psalm the feast of the Sabbath and feasts are not usually times of tediousness but pleasantness such times pass away with gratefull delight and surely it must needs soyle the character of a Christian to let those wheels drive heavily which are in the Chariots of Aminadah Doth it not very much unbecome us to be weary of that day which God hath appointed Cant. 6. 12. for fellowship with himself and for the transacting of the great affairs of Eternity There is a Command for Reverence So the Text the holy of the Lord. Si colueris Sabbathum quasi diem sanctum gloriae glorificationi Domini consecratum If Psal 2. 12. thou observe the Sabbath as a holy day consecrated and set apart to the glory and glorifying of God as he well glosses upon it There are two holy passions adorne a Sabbath Joy and Fear the one for the benefits of God the Psal 2. 11. Discamus die Dominico non quaerere gloriam nostram pompose incedendo et splendidé nos vestiendâ— sed Dei gloriam quaeramus hoc nobis erit gloriosum quod gloria dei per ros alios celebretur Isa 66. 2. other for the presence of God the one for his goodness and the other for his greatness Upon a Sabbath we must as the Psalmist speaks rejoyce with trembling It was the saying of a Learned man Vpon the day of a Sabbath let us not promote our own Glory by stately walking rich attire and pompous appearances but let us exalt Gods Glory by holy duties and this will be more glorious and honourable to us Upon the Sabbath let us tremble at Gods Word as the Lord speaks by the Prophet Isa 66 2. Let us lye at Gods feet let us be awfull of Gods presence let us exalt Gods Name and this is to sanctifie a Sabbath Humble hearts and not fine cloaths the bowing of the soul not the plaiting of the hair or the ordering of the Dress speaks the Sabbath Glorious The Lord calls for high estimations of the Sabbath So the Text Honourable The Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Machhid in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Original signifies that which is Glorious and that which is Ponderous Every Sabbath is a price put into our hands Luke 19. 42. a good wind for Heaven the souls term time that aâ—tionius Psal 118. 24. temporis that juncture of time which the soul hath to claâ— up for Eternity On this day more especially the Scepter of Grace is held out to lay hold upon One observes our Esth 5. 2. Sabbath is called the Lords day not onely because it is the Commemoration of our Lords Resurrection but because of the benefits we receive from the Lord that day and the duties we perform to the Lord that day and therefore if we will practice the Text we must prize the Sabbath we must call it honourable and indeed it is so in a manifold respect If we look upward This is the day in which more especially we sing the praises of the Lord we recount his hohour wherein our hearts bubble forth in holy thanksgivings and therefore the Psalm whose inscription calls it a Psalm for the Sabbath is wholly Laudatory It is a song Psal 92. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Sabbath day so is the very title And indeed what is the Lords day but primitiae Coeli the dawning of Glory the beginnings of Heaven the tuning of the musick which shall last for ever to every true believer On the Lords day the Saint makes it his grand affaire to advance the Lords Honour If we look downward the Sabbath still is honourable Then the Lord crowns us with his graces honours us with his presence meets us in his ordinances puts all marks and characters Mat. 18. 20. of honour on his people then the King sits at his Cant. 1. 12. Table and sends forth his Spicknard with the sweet smell of it The Holy Sabbath is the blessed time when the Lord Sponsa contactu sponst sui planè divinam suavitatem acquisivit Del. Rio. 1 John 1. 3. Mat. 18. 20. bows the Heavens and comes down and vouchsafes his people fellowship with himself sweet and salvifical communion in a word then the Father drops his grace then the Son promises his presence then the Spirit pursues his work in the assemblies of his Saints If we look outward if we cast our eyes upon other days the other six days of worldly toyle and labour The very gleanings of a Sabbath are better then the Vintage of the Judges 8. 2. week In other dayes we onely reap the curse of the first Adam to eat our bread in the sweat of our brows on the Gen. 3. 19. holy Sabbath we reap the blessing of the second Adam we gather the fruits of his glorious purchase we enjoy the ordinances of his grace lye under the impressions of his spirit and inherit the sweets of his presence and therefore compare the Sabbath with other dayes and what is the dross of a week to the gold of a Sabbath This day is nothing but the souls weekly Jubilee If we look forward towards eternity the Sabbath in this regard is honourable it is the special day for the soul to dress and trim it self in to meet its Bridegroom this is our peculiar Fuit illud Sabbathum Gen. 2. 3. Typus aeterni illius Sabbathi in â—aeâ—is in quo electi animâ et corpore à peccatis calomitatibus et miseriis hujus vitae requiescent Deus in illis et ipsi in Deo Gen. 66. 23. Vltra hunc mundum est veri Sabbathi observatio Orig. Prov. 34. 2 Cor. 10. 4. 2 Cor. 4. 7. In Sabbatho totus Deo deique voluntati cognoscendae annuntiandae et edimplendae vaces Alap time to prepare for eternity The
holy day Indeed the Sabbath is not to be rushed upon Man must not break in upon a Sabbath as the horse rusheth into the battel as Jeremiah speaks without premeditation and previous consideration Jer. 8. 6. Ignatius calls the Sabbath the Queen of dayes and Queens have their trains going before them there must be Ignat ad Magnes a train of duties precedeing the holy Sabbath On the Saturday Quomodo Maria Virgo inter omnes mulieres principatum tenet ita inter caeteros dies haec soleâ—nis dies Hier. let us prepare for the Lords day We know tuned Instruments play the sweetest before they are tuned they jar and make a harth sound Our hearts are these Instruments which must beforehand be tuned by several duties or or they will jar and be discomposed upon the Sabbath Physick is prepared before it is taken and our hearts must be prepared before we take and enjoy the Ordinances of a Sabbath There is a preparing dress before we go to any feast and must not the soul be drest before the festival of the Sabbath that great banqueting of the inward man There is a dawning light before the rising Sun some glimering duties must be the harbingers of the approaching Sabbath Indeed matters should be so ordered every day so as to prepare for this day As our whole life should be a preparing for death so the whole week should be a preparing for the Sabbath But as this precious day doth more approach so preparatory work must more increase Holy Nehemiah shut the Gates of the Neh. 13. 19. City viz. Jerusalem when it began to be dark the In veteri testamento ut impedimenta omnia celebrationis hujus diei iâ— tempore auferrentur Fideles pridiè Sabbati divino mandato omâ—ia sua quantum poterant ad eum firem componebant Wal. evening before the Sabbath least the night time should be prophaned by bearing burdens in it and he did this least the men of Tyre should occasion the Jews to break the Sabbath day by bringing in wares upon that night This holy mans care would not suffer any to cast dirt upon the portal or entrance of the Sabbath he very well knew there must be some time spent in trimming the soul to meet its Bridegroom on his own holy day A due preparation for this blessed Sabbath lies more especially under a five-fold injunction Of necessity It is necessary we should take some time to compose our spirits for the duties of the following Sabbath Our thoughts in the week how are they loose and carelesly dishevelled some time there must be to bind them up together and put them into order The Lord in the fourth Exod. 20. 8. Commandment enjoynes us to remember the Sabbath and to Id ipsum quâ—que in hoc praecepto certo râ—spectu mâ—rale est scil uâ— diebus antecedentibus omnia nostra quantum fieri potest ita iâ—stituamus ut per eorum negligen tiam à sanctificatione hujus diei non impediamur remember the Sabbath it is before hand to mind and manage matters that concern the Sabbath-sanctification that when it comes it may be holily kept for every duty on the Lords day there must be a due preparation for Prayer for Hearing for Sacraments c. Now if we must prepare for single duties when they lye more asunder sure we must prepare for the Sabbath when such duties are linked together And this is more considerable if we take notice we are not only to be in the duty but in the spirit in the prompt powerfull and precise transaction of every service on the Lords day And besides all this doth not the Lord upon this day come in comfortable visits to the souls of his people and must not they prepare for his presence It was the opinion of some Rev. 1. 10. that Christs personal coming to Judgement will be on the Sabbath day This is most sure that Christs spiritual coming Lactant. Lib. 7. Cap. 1. August de Temp. Serm. 154. in mercy is for the most part on the day of the Sabbath and shall there then be no preparation When a great man is to come to our houses how are all our Rooms dressed up When a great God is to come to our hearts shall not we prepare Neh. 13. 22. and dress our hearts for his entertainment Of Equity The Ministers they prepare for the Sabbath-good of Gods people and shall not the people of the Lord prepare for their own Faithfull Ministers before the Sabbath do not onely prepare matter to speak but they prepare their hearts to speak the matter Bernard in a Sermon thus breaks out to his people To prepare you meat my heart all Bern. in Fest omn. Sanct. Serm. 1. this night hath been seething within me and in my meditations I have been inflamed as with fire And is it not equal and most rational that Christians should meet their Ministers in holy preparation and plow up their fallow ground to receive Jer. 4. 3. that immortal seed which Gods holy Seeds-men are ready to cast into it Calvin complains of some Christians in his 1 Pet. 1. 23. time who no otherwise regarded the Sabbath then thereon to Calv in Deut. 8. Serm. 34. attend their worldly affairs the which they reserved to themselves that day as if they had no other day to deliberate for the whole week to come Now shall men on the Sabbath prepare for the week and shall not we in the week prepare for the Sabbath Is Mammon more to be minded then God Of advantage 1. The duties of the Sabbath will the better and freer come off If we be sedulous in holy preparation we shall then with more dexterity agility and facility transact the several parts of Gods service One cause why we are often unactive in duty and drive heavily is because we did not before-hand oyle our wheels inure our selves we did not the day before labour with God by Prayer and with our own hearts by care and industry Oftentimes a Christian is straightned stiff and bound up in the services of a Sabbath and knows not how to go on in holy duties and all this arises from neglect of holy preparation The heart hath not been dealt withall to supple it for more voluntary and chearfull performances Preparatory work would wind up the clock of the soul that it would go and strike it would pray hear contemplate and act any Sabbath service with far greater pleasantness and consonancy 2. If we prepare the mercies of the Sabbath will the larger and fuller come in according to our preparations will be our Gen. 44. 1. participations According to the number and measure of sacks the sons of Jacob prepared and carried with them out Ex lege mandato dei 23 Luc. 54. in omnibus Christianis conventibus requiritur ne debito suo fructu haec pietatis publicae exercitia priventur ut
scarecly supplyed which lye undiscovered Let us therefore the evening or day before the Sabbath withdraw our selves from the noyse of the world and so quietly call our selves to an account concerning our progresse or regresse in Religion the foregoing week Let us further prepare for the Sabbath by stirring up in our selves holy affections It is fit the soul should be on the wing upon the Lords day First we should long for the day of God as the Psalmist saith Psal 42. 1 2. My soul thirsteth for the living God O when shall I come and appear before God! And as she said Psal 42. 1 2. Judges 5. 28. Why are thy Charriots so long in coming and Judges 5. 28. why tarry the wheels of thy Charriot So O when will the Sabbath come that we may sell all and buy the pearl of price O when will the day come that we may have communion with God Father Son and Holy Ghost Secondly And we should long for God on his holy day Indeed there is nothing in God but what may set us on longing his Glory his Bounty his Purity c. Christ is altogether Cant. 5. 16. lovely and loveliness inticeth affection Beauty will attract love rich Pearls draw every eye so let us entertain Quisquis diligit deum sâ—gitta haec in corde ejus haeret et sâ—gittarius tam fugit tam sequitur ambo mâ—nent cum amante Del. Rio. in our thoughts whatsoever may ingratiate God and his Ordinances and let us kindle the fire on the day before the Sabbath that it may flâ—me forth and burn bright on that holy day A good man on Saturday evening going to bed leaped and cryed out It is but one night more and I shall be in the house of God upon his holy day and meet God himself in the use of holy things Let us before hand fall sick of Love and then how gratefull will the appearances of Cant. 2. 5. our Beloved be upon his own blessed day The fifth Duty preparatory to the Sabbath is earnest and fervent prayer Indeed prayer is the omniprevalent Engine which can do wonderfull things things above expectation among others it can admirably fit the soul for the Sabbath First For the Prayer of Faith can prevail with God for the pardon and forgiveness of sin and pardon'd sin will prepare â—randus est deus ut nihiâ— lâ—nguoris in nobis et ruinae pristinae relinquat ne rursâ—â— mali seminis pullalent rediviva plantaria Hierom. the soul for Sabbath-mercy those who are clogg'd with sin will quickly be tyred in duty Now the Sabbath is onely the Mart and spiritual Fair of duties The unpardoned sinner may spend not keep a Sabbath may pass away the time of it not enjoy the benefit of it Prayer I say can prevail for pardon The Lord directs us to this very means to procure forgiveness so Hos 14. 2. Take unto thee words and turn unto the Lord and say take away all iniquity and receive us graciously God will give pardon but prayer must Jam. 5. 15. importune the gift David he prayes for forgiveness and Dum oratur deus ut omnem auserat iniquitatem ut non solùm peccata sed etiâ—m omnes peccatorum sibras evellat Hier. he obtains it On the Eve of a Sabbath let us be earnest for the pardon of the sins of our lives of the sins of the past week let the week be cleared before we adventure upon a Sabbath A sense of pardon will sweeten every service of a Sabbath make Duty delight and Pains a paradise Ordinances shall be our incomes not our incumberances Be earnest for pardon and the Sabbath shall not only piously but pleasingly be observed Psal 51. 11. Omnem aufer iniquitatem est prima petitio quae alias omnes meritò praecedit Riv. Prayer can obtain the spirit The donation of the spirit is promised to Holy Prayer Now our hearts are the spirit's Luke 11. 13. work-houses The spirit can chain up corruptions draw out grace blow away the froth and vanity of the soul open Spiritualia bona licet corporalia longissimo intervallo post serelinquat tamen sine conditione petere audemâ—â— certum est Christum ea nobis impetrasse et patrem propter ipsum nobis dâ—turum esse Chemn 2 Cor. 3. 17. Eph. 1. 13. Mal. 3. 2. the heart for the entertainment of Gospel-messages every way put us into a sweet and Sabbath disposition The spirit is a spirit of sanctity to make the heart gracious the spirit is a spirit of liberty to make the heart free and enlarged the spirit is a spirit of purity it is fullers sope and a refiners fire to purge and cleanse the soul and so adaequately prepare the Christian for the divine duties of the Sabbath Prayer layes the foundation of Sabbath blessings the prayer of faith keeps the Key of Gods treasury door Blessings indeed which are really so are the fruits of prayer Prayer it can open the womb Hannah prayes and the obtains 1 Sam. 1. 27. a Samuel It can melt the Heavens it can open the prison Jam. 5. 16. 18. doors it can avail very much and prayer can turn a Sabbath into the souls blessed harvest it can open the heart procure Acts 12. 7. a blessing upon Ordinances engage Christs presence Lutherus ait utinam eodem ardore orare possum tum dabatur responsum fiâ—t quod velis Lutr. 2 Cor. 6. 2. make duties fruitfull and spiritual Manna nourishing Prayer can make the Sabbath a time of grace an opportunity of life a day of salvation a term of love It hath been the manner of some Christians the day before the Sabbath to meet and spend some time in seeking God by prayer and quickning one another this fervently performed would lay a great ground of a good day indeed to follow and therefore let us Pray pray pray beforehand that divine Ordinances may be accompanied with divine benedictions that sins may Mat. 24. 20. be discharged that our souls may be enlarged and hearts may be upon the wheele Our Saviour saith Pray that your flight be not on the Sabbath day but let us pray that our flight may be upon the Sabbath our flight towards Heaven when the soul is upon the wing and the heart upon its speed towards Jesus Christ A believer on a Sabbath should make haste to enjoy the embraces of his beloved which are as the Faeminae Christum secutae pridie Sabbati id circò ad futuram corporis Christi condituram omnia praeparabant ut Sabbatho secundumlegem quiescerent Wal. Espousals forerunning an Eternal wedding day The Eve before the Sabbath we should spend more time then usually in family duties Our preparation must not only be the work of the Closet but the work of the Family Then we should read the Scriptures refresh one another with holy discourses be more solemn in our addresses to God
the dawning of the morning and cryed I hoped in thy word Morning gâ—aces like morning stars shine brightest David used to cast anchor upon divine truth in the morning he did not onely meditate on it but act his hope and confidence in it and this was Davids work in the earliest part of the day and this is a rare Copy for us How should we prevent the dawning of a Sabbath in our flights to God in our longings after Christ in beginning our Sabbath-work Judg. 21 4. Love to God and his Ordinances should tear the curtains open disdain the softness of the pillow and betimes 1 Joh. 1. 3. break open our closet doors to enjoy fellowship with Pers râ—m Rex unum habebat cubi uâ—arem qui idoffi ii habebu ut manè ingressus regi diceret Surge ô Rex etque ea cura quae te curare voluit Mosoromisdes Plutarch the Father and his Son Jesus Christ But to conclude this particular Plutarch reports That the Persian King had one of the Servants of his Chamber every morning to come to him and to cry to him Rise O King and follow those cares which thy good genius will have thee to pursue Let us onely invert the phrase and instead of thy good genius say Gods good spirit and it will be applicable to our selves Let us especially early on Gods day resolve we will follow the traces in which the holy spirit shall lead us Let us seriously preponderate the weight and multiplicity of a Sabbath-days work The Traveller who is to ride many miles gets up early in the morning and so sets upon Judg 19. 8. his Journey The soul hath a great way to travel upon the Lords day its task is great and therefore its time must not run wast There are many duties to perform First Secret duties On the Sabbath there are some duties which must onely be acted between God and the devout soul A gracious heart will have private intercourse with God Jesus Christ went into a Mountane apart to pray Mat. 14. 23. and he was there alone The Saint some times turns the Closet into a Sanctuary and never more fitly then on a Lords day Our dear Lord bids us go some times into our Chambers Mat. 6. 6. and shut the doors upon us The Saints are Gods hidden ones in point of worship they serve God in their recluses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quem vis locum occulium notat Par. and private retirements and this is an evidence of their uprightness The Spouse sometimes meets her beloved and none shall be spectators of their holy fellowship Nunquam minus solus quà m cum solus and upon Gods holy day let the gracious soul set upon these several duties First The reading of Gods word The Eunuch was reading the Prophet Isaiah in his Charriot not onely because he would lose no time but because he would be more serious Acts 8. 28. in this secret duty David compares the Word to an honey comb Psal 19. 10. and honey combs are usually in the private gardens The same Psalmist saith The Law was Psal 1. 2. his Meditation in the night and then surely he had few witnesses to view his devotion The closet door may keep out not onely other people but other thoughts and then we are fittest to converse with Gods Word when we are most intent Secondly Another secret duty for the Lords day Is holy Prayer to God and praising of God Indeed prayer is a duty 1 Thes 5. 17. accommodated for all places for all times and all cases but closet prayer on the morning of a Sabbath is like a morning star which portends a fair day We read of our Saviour Mark 1. 35. that in the morning rising up a great while Mark 1. 35. before day he went out and departed into a solitary place Acts 10. 9. and there prayed let us go and do so likewise And holy Peter in this confessed that the Disciple was not greater then his Master for he pursued the same practice Acts 10. 9. Peter went up upon the house to pray about the sixth hour And as we must pray to God so we must sing the praises of God in secret sometimes our closets must not only be our Oratories to poure out our prayers in but our Mount Olivets to sing Hymns of praise to the Divine Majesty Mat. 26. 30. We must begin the works of Heaven in secret which we shall be doing to eternity in blessed Society Thus David praised God seven times a day and certainly he had not every time witnesses of his Divine Exaltation Psal 119. 164. Thirdly A third secret duty is Holy Meditation When the mind that Spiritual Bee is working and seeking honey out of every flower and this piece of service is calculated Gen. 24. â—â— onely for privacy Company untravelling whatsoever meditation works but of this more largely hereafter Fourthly The last duty to be acted in secret upon the holy Sabbath is Self-Examination when Conscience is both Judge Witness and Tribunal And in the acting of this duty there needs no Sessions-house but a mans own breast David saith when we commune with our hearts we must Psal 4. 4. 1 Cor. 11. 28. be still There wants no noise from the world nor from the company of others These two last duties viz. Meditation and Self-Examination are most proper for the most secret and retired places fitter for the Closet then the Church the secret Chamber then the open Sanctuary they are as one saith actions of the mind and so concern a Dr. Gouge mans own self in particular And these secret duties of piety should especially be performed in the morning of a Sabbath that the Lords day may begin with them and then we shall be in a good preparation for other duties The beginning with God thus in the morning may influence the whole Sabbath like the tuning of an Instrument which makes the whole Lesson's melody the sweeter and indeed pure Religion and undefiled which the Apostle speaks of Jam. 1. 27. never look's so comly as on a Sabbath day the day Jam. 1. 27. inhances the duty as the lovely dress doth outward beauty Thus we see there are secret duties to be acted on a Sabbath Secondly Private Duties On Gods holy day we must not lock up our selves and our services above in the Chamber but we must come down into the Family and there the morning stars must sing together to allude to that of Job Job 38. 7. Consort makes the musick The stars shine brightest in a constellation Jesus Christ would not be transfigured alone but he took some to be witnesses of his Glory when he would Mat. 17. 1 2. Luke 9. 18. Mat. 13. 36. pray his Disciples were with him and when he would open the blessed mysteries of the Gospel he takes his Disciples to him In our closets there is indeed a meeting of thoughts
Therefore in the morning let us set upon those sacred services which becomes Gods holy day Indeed by private duties before the publick our spirits are made more tuneable and by private duties after the publick Gods Ordinances are made more profitable The morning of a Sabbath is but the spring of a Sabbath which is the sweetest and most pleasant season for the soul to converse with God then the soul seems to be most green and freshest then duties seem to be most melodious and musical and then Grace more delightfully buds forth and is exerted with the greatest satisfaction and beauty Exod. 34. 4. In the morning Moses went into the Mount to meet with God In the morning the Apostles went into the Temple Acts 5. 21. to declare the Gospel In the morning early Joshuah Josh 6. 12. and the Priests take up the Ark of God which was the testimony of the divine presence Job rose up early in the morning Job 1. 5. and offered burnt offerings The poor multitude early Luke 21. 38. in the morning wait upon the Ministry of Jesus Christ they wait for the morning dews of the Gospel they are the sweetest they are the freshest they are more natural and most seasonable Christ preaches his morning Lecture to his flocking John 8. 2. and numerous Auditors In a word the performance Commendat nobis et domini et populi diligentiam hujus quam audiendi illius quam docendi sedulitate declaraverit sed iterum diluculo venit in templum Musc in Joh. 8. of holy duties in the morning of Gods holy day they work a three-fold good They prepare the heart The sluggish heart must be rouzed and awakened in private before it can see its beloved in the publick It must be breathed by some divine duties that it may be more fresh for the publick administrations Bells must be raised before they be rung to make the pleasing musick The flowers must be watered either by the shower 1 Sam. 7. 3. 1 Chro. â—9 18. Rev. 21. 2 or the watering pot before they lift up their pleasant heads and cast their wonted perfume The morning duties of a Sabbath they put the heart into a serious and heavenly Ante nuptias sponsa ornatur et paratur sponso suo Par. frame and make it fit company for Jesus Christ When I have prayed in my family I am tuned and wound up the more for that duty in the Assembly of the Saints They are the discharge of conscience A conscientious person cannot waste the morning of a Sabbath that is destinated to holy service Among the Jewes they had their morning Num. 28. 4 9 10. sacrifices on their Sabbaths There is no part of a Sabbath must lie fallow especially in the morning On the morning Mat. 28. 1 6. early Christ rose for our salvation and on the morning of this holy day we must rise for his service Christ calls himself the morning star Rev. 22. 16. And when is it fittest to Rev. 22. 16. Christus exoriens in cordibus nostris caliginem mentibus nostris pellit Sicut Lucifer claritate stellas alias antecedens et ante solem oriens instantis diei praenuncia tenebras nocturnas dispellit behold this star but on the morning of his holy day The Christus est stella matutina non modâ— praesentis vitae noctem radâ—s suis nunâ— disâ—â—tit sed etiam in matutina communis resurrectionis luce omnibus sanctis sese conspicuum exhibebit Andr. morning of a Sabbath is the time for our first salutes of Heaven for the dressing of our souls for the trimming of our Lamps for the imitation of our Saviour in his early rising for the seasoning of our Families The morning is as currant coyne as the rest of the day it is more congruous to Nature as congruous to Grace anâ— whosoever shall by his sinfull negligence let that part of the Sabbath fly away shall hardly overtake the blessing the subsequent day It is not without remark that Christ is called the morning star Rev. 22. 16. and the Rising Sun Mal. 4. 2 both to denote our early approaches to him They are the Ensurers of spiritual gain It is in spiritual Rev. 22. 16. Mal. 4. 2. as it is in secular affairs The most thriving Husbands get up early in the morning and do much business before the shop is open and so the thriving Christians get up early on the Sabbath and so spend the morning as that they have done much of their work before the Sanctuary door is open or they meet with the more publick Assemblies What views mightest thou have of God by Holy Meditation what smiles and answers of Love from Christ by ardent and servent Prayers what heart warmings by holy Discourse on the morning of a Sabbath Then the first winds and brizes of Joh. 3. 8. the spirit blow and we may weigh Anchor the more happily for the whole ensuing day Josephs Brethren so minded Gen. 44. 3 4. their Journey that they set forward as soon as the morning was light The Sabbath day is our travelling day towards Canaan and therefore we must dispatch much of our Journey in the morning we should do as it was prophesied of Benjamin devoure the prey in the morning that prey Gen. 49. 27. Hos 6. 3. which God hath provided for those who right early sanctifie his holy Sabbath and we should do this the rather for it may be with us as once it was with the people of Israel Nunb 9. 21. that the cloud was taken up in the morning Now the cloud was the sign of Gods presence and if the cloud be taken up how can we expect a shower of mercy David saith 2 Sam. 23. 4. that the Lord is as the light of the morning when the Sun riseth when then is it more sutable to meet these bright appearances but on the morning especially on his own day 1 Kings 18. 26 29. The very Priests of Baal called upon their Idols from morning until evening and afterwards prophesied untill the time of the evening sacrifice and shall not we call upon our God the living God from morning until noon and so to the evening sacrifice especially on that day which is a day of worship and sacrifice The wisâ—man observes it is a principle agreeable to Nature to â—â—w our seed in the morning Eccles 11. 6. Isa 17. 11. and what are our holy duties but this seed which will spring up in Heavenly rewards if piously sown and the fittest Cant. 6. â—0 time for them is the morning especially the first day of the week Our Sabbath which is the morning of the week Sicut auroram Christum inveniemus paratum Del rio Christ speaking of the Spouse Cant. 6. 10. asketh the question who is she that looketh forth as the morning not onely denoting the Spouses freshness and beauty but the time
holy and serious meditation those enamouring notions of Heaven and blessedness which the Scriptures lay down and contemplate on that spring of joy that life of glory that rich inheritance that future portion which he lives in the expectation of this would put his hope upon the full speed to post towards his desired possession The grace of hope by holy meditation becomes more fledged and vigorous and reneweth its strength like the Eagle The grace of Love is much meliorated and advanced by this duty of meditation There is an affectionate longing towards Christ in every gracious spirit which is fed and Psal 42. 1 2. Joh. 3. 34. Col. 2. 3. Col. 1. 19. succoured by continual and due meditation upon its infinite want of Christ and a weighty consideration of those treasures of grace which are laid up in Christ and so the stream of holy love to this Mediator swells and is ready to overflow all Caeteri homines gratiam nacti sunt gradu inferiore Christus omnem gratiam possidet et gradu summo Daven banks of restraint Our love of desire after Christ arises much from the meditation of his benefits and our love of complacency in Christ flowes much from the meditation of his excellencies But still it is meditation that blows our love into a pure flame and raises it to the highest degree And therefore as we desire to raise and refine our love let meditation be our Mount Olivet to which we may frequently repair The last advantage which meditation brings is the amplification of our comforts The blessed promises recorded in The fifth advantage by meditation the Word they do not conveigh comfort to us only as they are recorded but as they are applyed by meditation The Grapes while they hang upon the Vine they do not produce any Wine to exhilarate the gatherer or the possessor but when they are squeezed in the Wine-press they yield forth that Liquor which is of so chearing a nature And Judg. 9. 13. so promises while onely left upon record in sacred writ they do not drop their Soveraign Juice which chears the heart of a poor believer but when we ponder and press them by stedy and serious meditation then these promises conveigh water of life to us and drop cordials into our carefull breasts Thus David in the 63 Psalm through divers Psal 63. 5 6 7 8. verses tells us what marrow and fatness what lushious and sweet delight he found in Gods Ordinances vers 5th and what cariers of love and pursuit he had after the enjoyment of God vers 8th but all this is the fruit of meditation vers 6th Indeed one morsel of meat chewed and digested conveighs more nourishment then a greater quantity swallowed down whole so one Promise or one Ordinance ruminated upon and digested by sweet meditation conveighs more comfort to the soul then many Promises or Sermons in the head which are not meditated on And thus much for the advantages of meditation Let us in the next place cast an eye upon the excellency of meditation Without controversie great is the rarity of this The excellency of meditation blessed duty Some of the Antients have call'd it The nursery of Piety And St. Hierom calls it his Paradise Indeed meditation August Chrysost Cypr. is the Pisgah sight of the mind when the soul takes a prospect not of an earthly but of an Heavenly Canaan we meditate on those things which are within the vail Dixit Hieronymus oppida et urbes videri sibi tetros carceres et solitudinem ejus esse Paradisum Epist 72. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theophyl Heb. 6. 19. The soul is upon the wing in this soaring duty and the thoughts march heaven-ward Theophylact calls this duty the very gate and portal by which we enter Glory by this service we are ushered in to glance at God himself Meditation is the work of Heaven begun the fight of God in the twi-light the very view of him in a prospective it doth heighten us to a kind of Angelical frame and brings the Soul and God together And yet how many neglect this duty and live almost in the non-performance of it They make large strides and gaps between their meditations 1 Cor. 13 12. 1 Joh. 3. 2. now a little musing and then after many dayes a return to that roseat path again for so indeed is holy meditation How should this strike such with fear and sorrow have they nothing Heb. 6. 19. above to contemplate on No goods within the vail to Meditatio nihil est nisi visio dei è longinquo take an Inventory of by this blessed duty Where is their God their Christ their Crown of Glory Are these Seraphical objects so above their thoughts as they are wholly strange to them Meditation is our view of God at a distance a glance at Christ afar off By this duty the soul listens Mat. 25. 10. to the musicks of the Bride Chamber which he in this life hears more confusedly and in glory he shall hear them more distinctly And yet I say how many account this sweet and heavenly duty a melancholick interruption of their peace and quiet But as the Moon loseth nothing of its light or brightness because the dog barks at it and many rich Countries lose nothing of their treasure because they lie fallow and are altogether unknown Their Mines are no way to be undervalued because they want a discovery So neither can any Eclipse darken this Divine service of meditation Josh 1. 8. Gen. 24. 63. Psal 104. 34. Psal 119. 15. 1 Tim. 4. 15. Psal 1. 2. notwithstanding many live in the total or partial neglect of it Meditation will be the command of a God the Evening sacrifice of a Patriarch the Divine refreshment of a Psalmist the Resolution of a Saint the Work of an Evangelist and the Character of a Godly man although it is a duty of a low price among formal professors or the prophane scoffing miscreants of the World Meditation will be the Saints mountain of Spices though unregenerate persons smell not the fragrancy of them And that which is one Pearl in the Crown of this Duty is its indispensable necessity One observes That the end why God gave us his Word is not onely to know it but to meditate The necessity of meditation on it not to run it over with a transient glance but to traverse it in our meditations and to ponder it in our Psal 119. 97. thoughts Now meditation will appear to be necessary upon a Luke 2. 19. threefold account It puts the intellectual part of man upon service The understanding is not more busied in any duty then in meditation then like the Silk-worm it spins out of its own bowels Intellâ—ctus et mens est sedes sapientiae â—â— veteres putabant when we meditate we rally up our thoughts to fall upon some divine object This holy
Acts 12. 23. can unpin the wheels and break the Axletree of the whole Luke 12. 5. Creation with a word he can infatuate the counsels of the Jer. 39. 9. deepest Politians tear in pieces the strongest adversaries Psal Job 26. 7. 59. 22. blast the designs of the loftiest Courtiers speed the Job 9. 6. death of the proudest Princes and fire Nations out of their Heb. 10 31. Cities and tye them up with a tedious Captivity he can throw sinners soul and body into hell Mat. 10. 28. In a Mat. 10. 28. word Gods Power is commensurate to his will and the Isa 52. 10. strength of his hand can effect whatsoever is in the purpose of his heart If he make bare his arme Isa 52. 10. his naked arme can execute wonders nor need he any weapons to accomplish his atchievements Let us meditate on the omnisciency of God His eye is alwayes upon us he hath a window into our hearts our very Psal 139. 1. Psal 44. 21. Jer. 17. 10. Rev. 2 23. Psal 139. 12. thoughts are unvailed to him he sees every sin he searcheth every soul he trys every rein Clouds do not darken his view Curtains do not hinder his sight and doors do not shut out his prospect Light and darkness are all one to him he sees the fine and curiously spun agitations of the mind before Dei intellectus est vitae suae actus quo Deus videt omnia seipsum scil et extrase universa quae esse possunt quae esse vult autipse facit aut à creaturis fieri vult aut permittit cognoscit eas res quae sunt et earum causas modos et circumstantias praesentia praeterita fatuâ—a magna et parva quibus scientia divina non vi escit et animi recessus dicta conâ—tus facta Leid Pr. they are fledged and fly out into action It was an excellent speech of Augustine Deus totus oculus est minima videt God is all eye and sees the most minute things the very imaginations of our hearts 1 Chron. 28. 9. our thoughts in the first â—bullition the very embryoes of our working minds God saw Achans wedge although it was buried under ground and can tell Joshuah where it lay Josh 7. 11. Christ saw the Scribes reasonings when they were onely agitated in the conclave of their hearts Mark 2. 6 8. He knows the proud afar of Psal 138. 6. before they draw near to lift up the heel against him Every motion of our minds every sound of our tongue every action of our lives lye plain before him Omnia videt c. He sees all things from Eternity to eternity with one and the same view as School-men speak David could not fly from his presence though he made the greatest speed to avoid it and took the wings of the morning to hasten his flight Psal 139. 9. he weighs the dust in the ballance Isa 40. 14. takes notice of those things which are as small and contemptible as the dust Let us meditate on the Holiness of God This blessed Attribute is an orient pearle in Gods Crown Holiness is the very Glory of the God-head The Lord is glorious in holiness Ter sanctitatem deo acclamant animalia sive Trinitatem in deo innuentia sive infinitâ—m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 iterationem significantia est enim deus ter sanctus sanctissimus sanctitas ipsâ— Beatos Angelos et homines sanctificans Par. Exod. 15. 11. The Scriptures call the Father a holy God Psal 22. 3. the Son a spotless Lamb 1 Pet. 1. 19. the Spirit the Holy Ghost John 14. 26. The Holiness of God is the triumphant song of heaven both in the Vision of the Prophet Isa 6. 3. and in the Revelation of the Apostle Rev. 4. 8. The Holiness of God is the wonder of Angels those glorious spirits admire Gods beauty which is his holiness the holiness of the Lord is the pattern and exemplar of Saints for them to imitate and write after Lev. 20. 7. Holiness is primarily and originally in God as light in the Sun derivatively onely in the Saints As God is pleased to draw Man fair by the pencil of his spirit to cast and shed a beauty and sweetness upon him Ezek. 16. 6. Christ issuing Sanctitas tribuitur deo non solum quia purus est ab omni inquinamento sed maxime quia nulla non solum moralis sed etiam et naturalis non potest in eo esse imperfectio Riv. forth from his fulness some beautifying drops cleansing from sin and watering with grace and so poor man arises supernaturally lovely from amidst his natural deformity and loathsomness Holiness is so intrinsical and grateful to God that he will have Holiness to the Lord engraven on the plate of Gold which Aaron the High Priest must wear upon his breast Exod. 28. 36. God sits in the Throne of his holiness saith the Psalmist Psal 47. 8. He is praised in the mountain of his holiness saith the Prophet Psal 48. 1. Holiness attends upon his Throne and holiness besets his Mountain Holiness is mixed with his words Psal 60. 6. Exod. 28. 36. Psal 47. 8. Psal 48. 1. Psal 60. 6. Psal 93. 5. Isa 63. 15. Isa 62. 9. Zach. 14. 20. Exod. 25. 31. Holiness becomes his house Psal 93. 5. Holiness fills his habitation Isa 63. 15. and replenisheth his Court Isa 62. 9. Nay holiness is so much Gods nature that holiness to the Lord must be written on the very Bells of the horses and the pots of the Sanctuary and they shall be like the bowles of the Altar which were of pure Gold Exod. 25. 31. typifying weight and worth the Characters of true holiness Let us meditate on the wisdome of God He sits at the helm and guides all things regularly and harmoniously he Tim. 1. 17. brings light out of darkness and can make use of the injustice Judiâ—ia dâ—i sunt â—â—â—ventibilia 〈…〉 2. 3. of men to do that which is just he is infinitely wise in him all treasures of wisdome dwell he can break us by afflictions and upon those broken pieces of the ship bring 〈◊〉 omnia 〈◊〉 seipsum 〈…〉 per 〈…〉 〈…〉 us safe to shore The traces mazes and labyrinths of divine wisdom are so arduous and inextricable that holy Paul was struck with amazement in the observation of them and is even swallowed up with extasie and amazement Rom. 11. 33. There is a learned man observes how many ways the wisdom and knowledge of God transcends and surpasseth the wisdom of man 1 Cor. 13 12. Quanta est altitudo scientiae divinae transrendit omnem Gods wisdom surpasses mans in the object of it God by his wisdom and knowledge understands all things past present and to come all things which have a possibility of being and he understands himself who is an Ocean of perfections And this Man falls infinitely short of God is
Law and in the time of the Gospel these are the products of Gods eternal grace and favour That God should subdue sinners to himself hedge up their way with thorns lay Hos 2. 6. Jer. 2. 24 stumbling blocks before them in their sinful carier that he Tiadam eos in miseriam unde se nequeant explicare Riv. should take sinners in their moneth and dispose of unthought of circumstances and passages of providence for the turning of transgressors into the way which leads to everlasting life all these things speak the eternal grace and favour of Eph. 1. 7. God But Secondly Divine grace may be taken for grace the effect for the graces of Gods spirit which in eternal love and grace and favour he plants in the soul and this work of grace merits our sweetest meditation And here we must meditate On the powerfulness of the work of grace Grace is an irresistible principle a torrent which bears down all before it Manassah was prejudiced against the impressions of grace by Gratiae Vocabulum tria denotat 1. Gratuitum actum divinae volunâ—atis accepton t is hominem in Christo peccata misericorditer condonantis 2 Eph. 9. 3. Rom. 24. Hic amor gratuitus est primum dâ—num in quo omnia alia dona dautur Hâ—nc gratiá acceptationis Aquin. vocat Secundò sub gratiae vocabulo complectitur Apost omnia hubitualia dona quae deus infundit ad animam sanctificandam sâ—il Fides charitas c. atque omnes virtutes et omniâ— dona salutarta sunt gratiae Eph. 4. 7. Hanc gratiam inhaerentem paeâ—è solum agnoscunt Pontificii et illam interim acceptantem quae est hujus sons sâ—aturigo nimis negligunt Tertiò Gratia denotat actuale auxilium dei quo renati post acceptam habitualem gratiam corroborantur ad exercenda bona opera et ad perseverandum in fide et pietate nam homini per gratiam renovato et sanctificato necessarium est quotidianum dei adjutorium ad singulos octus et necessaria est horum omnium connexio Daven scandalous and prodigious sins he was a pattern of impiety 2 Chron. 33. 5 6 7. Mary Magdalen was fortifyed against those sacred impressions by seven Devils Luk. 8. 2. Paul was garrison'd against those divine illapses of grace by an obstinate antipathy to the Gospel and the profession of it he barbarously persecuted the Church of Christ Acts 9. 2. And Peter turns his back upon grace by denying Christ the fountain of it But yet neither Prophaneness Impurity Rage Apostacy or the Devils themselves can withstand the powerful influences of grace But God by his grace humbles Manassah 2 Chron. 33. 12. brings him upon his knees to importune forgiveness Melts Mary Magdalen into tears Luke 7. 44. and she bedews those checks with her moans which she had so much prostituted to her lusts the evil spirit must give way to the good spirit to carry on his good work on her soul Nay grace softens Paul into submission and indisputable compliance Acts 9. 4 5. And Peter by a look of grace Luke 22. 61 62. turns to Christ by lamentation whom he had dishonoured by desertion By grace God breaks the hard heart Ezek. 36. 26. supplies the stubborn will Ezek. 36. 27. brings down the lofty spirit 2 Chron. 32. 26. writes his Law in the inward man Jer. 31. 33. and raiseth a stately fabrick of holiness out of the very rubbish of nature Ezek. 11. 19. Ezek 18. 31. and so the Convert becomes a new and lovely creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. Indeed a work of grace may be reproached but it cannot be resisted we may pursue holiness with scorn but we cannot withstand its work and operation by force or the most resolved might The spirit which worketh grace in the soul plucks down Satans strong holds plucks up rooted corruptions which have been long setled and riveted in the heart plants holy qualifications and habits in the Saint creates holy tendencies and inclinations and the Regenerate person becomes passive and sweetly yields to the force and power of this blessed work Christ throws his chain over him and he smiles himself into a voluntary and pleasing Captivity 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. The work of grace is often compared to a new birth Joh. 3. 5. Now when the throws and pangs come upon the woman with child she cannot with-hold her Issue but freely and with joy she brings forth the Man-child into the world Joh. 16. 21. And so when the spirit of grace carries on the new-birth the loynes of the Convert cannot with-hold but with joy a Saint is born into the world Grace like a sun-beam pierces powerfully though sweetly and is alwayes prosperous though sometimes strange in its designe Let us meditate on the Arbitrariness of the work of grace Indeed grace like Christ is a most free gift it knows no entail Spiritus sanctus non secundum dignitatem et merita sed quos et quando vult arâ—anis suis afflatibus aspirat dividens dona sua singulis sicut vult Ger. nor admits of any claim It is not in the power of a Holy Father to transmit his spiritual worth though he may conveigh his temporal wealth to his beloved Child The wind bloweth where it listeth Joh. 3. 8. And this wind is the spirit of grace as Augustine well observes and the words of the Text make it plain The freeness of this glorious work of grace which God works upon the hearts of his people may be fully and amply discerned In the nature of Election which is a voluntary choosing of some out of many now vocation and sanctification are 1 Cor. 12. 4. 1 Pet. 1 2. 1 Pet. 5. 13. Jer. 3. 14. 1 Pet. 2 4. Rev. 17. 14. Rom. 11. 5. Rom. 9 11. Jer. 3. 14. onely the fruits of Election as most evidently the Apostle Eph. 1. 4. He hath chosen us to be holy We are holy because we are chosen And so Acts 13. 48. As many as were ordained to eternal life believed We believe because we are ordained to eternal life Nothing is more arbitrary then election free choyce God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy as the Apostle speaks Here it is true one is taken and another left as our Saviour speaks in another case There is two of a Tribe and one of a Family as the Prophet speaks It may be one in a Pâ—w is converted by a Sermon others in the same Seat not in the least wrought upon as the same Fides electorum non fides eligendorum ut clamitant Arminiani Sun ripens some fruits and rots others Nothing then is more free then election which is the spring and fountain of grace and sanctification Faith is called the faith of the elect Tit. 1. 1. Paul was converted after an unusual and Tit. 1. 1. strange manner because he was a chosen vessel Acts 9. 15. There are but few chosen as our Saviour
saith Mat. 20. 16. and therefore but few Saints in the world That which speaks the work of grace arbitrary is the free-agency of God in sanctification of the means of grace The Gospel of Christ is a savour of life unto some unto others a 2 Cor. 2. 16. Joh. 6. 67 68. Acts 13. 48 50 savour of death The Word it melts and mollifies some others it leaves to hardness and incrustation When Christ preach't some leave him but his Disciples adher'd the closer to him When the Apostles preached some believed others persecute both the Doctrine and the Preacher The Ordinances of Christ are marrow and fatness to David Psal Praedicatio crucis et mortis Christi est odor mortis incredulis et cedit in eorum exitium qui mortem Christi ut mortem tantummodò considerant sed credentibus est odor ex vitâ quia ipsi vitam ex haâ— morte amplectuntur 63. 5. more then necessary food to Job Job 23. 12. But to others they have no tast no sweetness no power no reach to affect the heart When Paul and Barnabas preached at Iconium their Doctrine onely stirs up rage and passion Acts 14. 2. Like a high wind which turns the waves of the Sea into froth The preaching of the word is a cure to some and a curse to others to some it strengthens their grace to others it amplifies their guilt some fall before it as the word of salvation Acts 16. 29. others reject it and so dash upon eternal perdition The word indeed is a light to some and to others onely a stumbling block as God is pleased to pass by or work by his holy spirit Ordinances they are attended by man but sanctified by God The Word works unnaturally Eph. 4. 16. Joh. 3. 19. Prov. 16. 1. Eph. 3. 7. upon the Jews Acts 7. 54. pleasingly upon Herod Mark 6. 20. most powerfully upon Lydia Acts 16. 14. fully and effectually upon Paul Acts 9. 5. And thus the Gospel which is onely an instrument in Gods hand works variously and differently according to the pleasure and free agency of his will That the work of grace is arbitrary is evidenced in the impossibility of humane merit We cannot prepare our selves Natura corrupta est et lex morbum ostendit non sanat vos autem meritum nescio quod excogitastis quod mul 〈…〉 â—â—lutem 〈…〉 endam â—â—â—eat Whit. Qâ—i dignitate â—iâ—tationis hereditariae nituntur multò sunt verae pietatis studiosiores quam qui â— servorum merito riâ virtute dependent Mort. Epis Dunelm contra Merita for the entertainment of this work of the holy spirit there is no meritum ex condigno or meritum ex congruo as the Papists fondly imagine and our Protestant Divines have fully evinced When God first begins his work of grace upon the soul he finds nothing but ruines and rubbish no remains of beauty The spirit of God meets with a great deal of enmity Rom. 8. 7. and boysterous opposition much wrigling and reluctancy of the flesh All the powers of man are up in arms against this blessed work It is therefore only Gods free and eternal love which prompts him to carry on this powerful work One observing that of the Apostle Our carnal mind is enmity against God Rom. 8. 7. By carnal mind saith he is not to be understood sensuality the dregs the lees and the whites of nature but our natural wisdom our most refined part nature in its best condition even Lady reason it self unsanctified and therefore the work of grace must needs be arbitrary there is nothing to allure it nothing to engage God to effect it wrinkles will not stir up love The wise man saith Prov. 16. 1. The preparations of the heart are of the Lord Observe preparations in the plural number to shew us that every little wheel in the work of grace is moved Prov. 16. 1. and turns by power from God every good tendency Vita nostrae animae maximè beata à deo pendet et donatur dei amicis every regular propension every breathing and anhelation after good is implanted in us by God who is liberrimum agens as the school-men speak most free and arbitrary in all his works and dispensations This further is demonstrated by the ineffectualness of all mans attempts to arrive at a state of grace and holiness There are many things bid fair for this holy work but they all Tollitur cooperatio liberi arbitrii interior volentis exterior currentis et totum opus bonum est dei miserentis et gratiae operantis Calv. bring onely to the birth they cannot bring forth the least semblance of it all turn into a timpany at last Good Education holy Patterns sweet Ordinances precious Sabbaths these may contribute something to an outward restraint from evil but they beget not the Saint without the admirable work of divine grace The holy spirit must overshadow the soul and so beget Christ in it That holy thing the new birth is the product of the Eternal and Almighty spirit we cannot ascribe the New creature to any thing in Rom. 9. 16. man for creature implies a work of creation which onely is to be attributed to an infinite power Thus most evidently the Apostle Rom. 9. 16. It is not of him who wills nor of him who runs but of God who sheweth mercy Mans fairest colours are but paint they may counterfeit but are not true beauty Let us meditate on the morning of a Sabbath on the secrefie of the work of grace It is a sweet but a spiritual work indeed Vita sanctorum obscondita est quia sancti à mundi cupiditatâ—bus et mundarâ conversatione se abstrahunt et abscondunt Anselm it is admirable but most frequently indisecruable this blessed work is like a river under ground like a star behind a cloud the world cannot see it they look upon the Saints as the onely troublers of Israel Holy Paul was called a seditious fellow Acts 24. 5. The Apostles were called intemperate men filled with new wine Acts 2. 13. Nay Christ himself was called Beelzebub and a friend of publicans and sinners though he had the spirit above measure John 3. 34. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epic. The world understands not the Saints Shibboleth Nay often the Saint himself is at a loss whether this work be Mundus non agnoscit aliquid spirituale in filâ—is dei Dav. wrought in him or no He often wants the lively and vivid sense of the spirit of God he many times is so clouded with afflictions battered with temptations disturbed Heb. 11. 37 38. with the hurries of the world dazled with sensual flatteries Col. 3. 3. and benighted with desertion that he can scarce see any day light of grace by the least cranny of observation or experience How doth David cry out that the spirit had taken Cum sentiant sancti insehanc vitam spiritualem
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
a pleasant thing to behold the Sun Eccl. 11. 7. because it will not meet with its last setting till the consummation of the world Gold it self is despicable because corruptible 1 Pet. 1. 18. Duration is the excellency of every good thing that which makes grace it self look so lovely and beautiful it is because it cannot faint away it is as immortal as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isid Pelus soul it enricheth this sets off its comeliness it cannot lose its beauty Cant. 8. 7. But to return to our Christian Sabbath It therefore differs from and hath the preheminence over the Sabbath of the Jews because it walks over its grave and will survive till all Gospel Institutions shall cease and our weekly Jubilees shall be turned into eternal triumph CHAP. XXV The Comparison of the Christians Sabbath here with his Eternal Sabbatism or Rest above AND that the joy of meditation may be full and may be wholly indefective in suitable objects to prey upon on Gods holy day especially in the morning so far as time and convenience will permit Let meditation look forward Dies Dominica est imago venturi seculi et assidua commotione vitae illius nunquam desiturae non negligimus ad eam demigrationem viaticum parore Bas or rather upward and observe what proportion our Sabbath here bears with our Sabbath above This pleasing task will cause meditation to renew its strength like an Eagle Psal 103. 5. and to take its flight with greater vigour and liveliness And to make the comparison more considerable we will observe wherein our earthly and our heavenly Sabbath do perfectly agree and then take notice wherein our heavenly doth transcendently outvy and surpass our earthly Our earthly Sabbath doth resemble our heavenly in the holy nature of it They are both holy our Sabbath here is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 35. 2. A holy day a day set apart Exod. 35. 2. Exod. 28 36. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a holy God to be spent in holy services destinated to sacred and holy purposes vouchsafed for holy Communion with Jesus Christ and appointed as a blessed means to make us holy The Lords day as our Sabbath is called Rev. 1. 10. carries holiness in its very title It s name is written in the golden Letters of sanctity and so our heavenly Hoc Sabbatum aeternum inchoatur in renatis per spirituale Saâ—batum hujus vitae et consummabitur tandem in futurâ vitâ in quâ Deus erit omnia in omnibus Ger. In die judicii plenè et perfectè sub pedibus conteretur Satan In hâ◠vitâ reportant Pii victoriam ex pugnâ in futurâ plenâ—riè liberabuntur â— pugnâ Sabbath is an undefiled rest Heaven admits of no impure thing no unclean person Eph. 5. 5. There are no weeds in our Paradise above Our future Sabbath shall be an everlasting holy day we have there a holy God to behold a holy Redeemer to enjoy holy Angels to joyn issue with spotless and glorifyed Saints to delight in nay the rivers of pleasure which run at Gods right hand Psal 36. 8. Psal 16. 11. have Chrystalline streams and are excellent not only for their sweetness but their purity Every thing in glory is unblemished and without spot else heaven could not be the seate and residence of the great King A learned man observes Our eternal Sabbath is onely the consummation of our spiritual which consists in a full cessation from sin And indeed in heaven all causes of sin shall utterly and everlastingly cease First The Corruption of the Flesh Secondly The Temptations of Satan Thirdly The Seductions of the World Fourthly A Propensness to Evil. Fifthly A Faculty and capacity of offending In glory the Saints shall be endowed with such perfect purity that suppose Temptation could get within the Veil and intrude among the glorifyed Saints that Syren should no way impress or allure them So then our Sabbath here and hereafter both look fair because of holiness Our Sabbath here resembles our rest above in the duties and employments of it In our Sabbath below our whole business is with God we run it out in hearing something drop from the heart of God when we attend upon his word in making our humble addresses to God by secret and more publick prayer in fixing our fledged meditations on God in singing Psalms and making melody in our hearts to Eph. 5. 19. God The Saints task is wholly to serve God his priviledge Intra in gaudium Domini i. e. gaude de eo quo gaudet in qua gaudet Dominus sc de fruitione sui ipsius Tunc gaudet homo ut Dominus cùm fruitur ut Domiâ—us Aquin. is to enjoy communion with God his ambition is to Sun himself in the presence of God on Gods holy day And all our employment in our celestial Sabbath will be to rejoyce in God and to glorifie God we shall spend eternity in venting our joys for the blessed fruition of God I say in venting those joys First Which will be rare for the subject of them they are the joys of the Saints John 16. 22. Secondly Rare for the fountain and spring of them they are the joy of the Lord Mat. 25. 23. Thirdly Rare for the plenty of them it shall be the fulness 1 Pet. 1. 8. Exultabunt Sancti in gloriâ videbunt Deum et gaudebunt laetabuntur et delectabuntur fruentur gloriâ et in faelicitate jocundabuntur aeternâ Cypr. Beata Deitatis visio est gaudium Domini tui O gaudium super gaudium vincens omne gaudium extra quod non est gaudium Aug. of joy Psal 16. 11. Fourthly Rare for the adjunct of them joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. Fifthly Rare for the efficient cause of them they are joys from the Holy Spirit Isa 35. 10. Sixthly Rare for the characters of them our joy in our eternal Sabbath shall be First True in eternal cordial joy all the faculties of the soul shall tripudiate and leap for joy they shall be as a dancing Sun or as David danced before the Ark 2 Sam. 6. 14. and their several measures shall be the elevation of the exstacy The understanding shall joy in the Lord for its divine light the will shall joy in the Lord for its perfect consonancy to the divine will The memory shall joy in the Lord for its full strength and so the affections for their heavenly purity Secondly Our joy in our Sabbath above shall be sincere without mixture of grief or disgust Our worldly joys are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bitter-sweets sweet brier which can tear as Prov. 14. 13. well as sent but in our celestial Sabbath there shall be no Gall or Vinegar in our Cup. Thirdly Our joy in our Sabbath above shall be stable and sempiternal neither to be interrupted nor concluded because the fountain of it will be eternall viz. The sight of
of God shall be close and intimate and not onely the conveyance of delight but an affluence of all good things and desireable satisfactions God being the chiefest good our beholding him must needs return to us all unspeakable happiness all joy and sweetness in the highest degree Mat. 18. 10. Our Saviour avers hereafter the Elect shall be like the Angels Mat. 12. 25. Luke 20. 36. And how glorious Dei visio summum erit beatorum praemium Aug. is their sight of God! Those excellent spirits how do they fill their joyes from that ocean of pleasure which flows from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nyssen de Virgin the beatifical vision Augustine saith our sight of God is our chief reward in heaven Gregory Nyssen takes notice That so far to be honoured as to see God is the consummation of our hope the full of our desires the top of all unspeakable good things I may add to see God is the issue and stage of our faith the sea of enjoyment into which the River of faith runs and is lost How infinitely greater then will our enjoyments in our Sabbath above be then those we attain to here in our Sabbath below In our Sabbath above there shall be fulness of joy Psal 16. 11. A torrent of pleasures which will be ever running and over-flowing but here our delights Imago dei sita est in hominis mente sive in eo quod homo sit in summo rerum gradu in quo est dâ—us et Angelus scil quod sit naturae spiritualis secundum animam et naturae intelligentis Alap in the Lord are faint and few like the Sun shining in a showre mixed with successive tears In our Sabbath above we shall be satisfied with the likeness of God Psal 17. 15. But here in our Sabbath below we must bemoan the iniquity of our holy things not onely the iniquity of our slips but of our services there are black spots upon the face of our fairest duties those which look with the most taking countenance our very tears had need of washing our prayers interceding for pardon and our sighs which are the hearts incense had need perfuming and when we are in our best dress we may be censured for uncomliness In our Sabbath above there shall be everlasting triumph and exultation Psal 68. 4. The Saints shall be alwayes glorying upon their beds of spices and on their Mountanes of prey everlasting Cant. 5. 13. joy shall be upon their heads as a triumphall Crown Isa 35 Isa 35. 10. 10. But here in our Sabbath below our rejoycing is soon Isa 61. 3. over-cast either God hides his face in displeasure or we let Isa 65. 14. fall our hands in duty and then our triumph is turned into Mat. 25. 21. trouble and we are ready to say Wo to us that we sojourn in a valley of Baca a wilderness of tears and inconstancy The two Sabbatht differ in their suavity and delight Indeed our Sabbath below is not wholly destitute of its sweets Exod. 16. 14. and consolations dews of delights fall upon it like Manna about the Israelites Camp there is marrow and fatness in the Ordinances of it Psal 63. 5. There are refreshings and The sweetness of holy duties Psal 104. 34. Job 23. 12. Acts 10. 10. Dan. 9. 21. perfumed gusts in holy duties Davids meditations were sweet and lushious Psal 104. 34. Job perfers Gods word above his necessary food Job 23. 12. John was in the spirit on the Lords day Rev. 1. 10. in an excess of joy and in the height of intellectual rapture Peter in his prayers was in a trance Acts 10. 10. he was carried above himself and saw heaven opened to present him with unwonted views Daniel in the midst of his supplications had the prospect and company of an Angel Dan. 9. 21. An inhabitant of glory descends to congratulate and accost him nay oftentimes the word is sweeter then honey to the tast of the hearer Psal 19. 10. And while we attend upon it we feed upon dropping honey-combs Peter preaching to his Auditory there falls a showre of the spirit and heaven came Compositio thymiamitis offerri debuit coram domino Altare enim incensâ— ob eam causam fuerat constructum Riv. down to visit the Congregation Holy duties how often are they spiced with unspeakable delight and complacency Among the Oblations of the Jews there were perfumes to be offered upon the Altar of Incense Exod. 30. 1 7. And our Gospel Sacrifices are often sweetned with inward joy and consolation If Christ meet us in a duty or an ordinance he drops sweetness from his voyce Cant. 2. 14. sweetness from his lips Cant. 5. 13. sweetness from his fingers Exod. 30 34. Psal 119. 103. Psal 141. 6. Lev. 16. 14. Cant. 5. 5. sweetness from his cheeks Cant. 5. 13. sweetness from his mouth Cant. 5. 16. If we tast any thing of his fruit it is very sweet Cant. 2. 3. when Christ gives a visit he is every way sweet to the soul The Sabbath receives an additional delight from the Fructus Christiâ— dulcis est accipi potest de praedicatione Evangèlii aut de contemplatione dei aut deconsolatione Sacramenti Del Rio. Communion of Saints we do not only meet with God but with his people on his sacred Sabbath we flock as Doves to the windows and as stars meet in a constellation as morning stars we sing together David remembers with some kind of complacency the joy he had in going to the Sanctuary with the multitude Psal 42. 4. The Primitive Christians prayed and brake bread together Acts 2. 42. Their harmony was their happiness and their society was their satisfaction But yet all these sweets have their allayes their damps and their ecclipses they are as the shining moon behind Isa 60. 8. a cloud they yield onely a duskish light Isa 38. 7. First The sweets of our present Sabbath are onely partial they may delight the soul they do not delight the body a diseased body is not cured at a Sermon a tormented body is not eased at an Ordinance if we read the dim eye is not made more vivacious if we receive the Sacrament the paralitical hand is not made more steddy the hand of faith may be strengthned but not the hand of flesh moreover the Ordinances they may delight the mind with information when they do not affect the heart with gracious impressions Hos 6. 3. they may be our Counsellers when they are not Psal 119. 24. our Comforters they may convey gladness when they do not transmit grace to us Mark 6. 20. Nay they may cherish one grace when they do not recruit another The word Maledicere rebus irrationalibus in se consideratis est otiosum vanum Aquin. may be a pillar to our faith when it is not a prop to our patience as Job he flings in his troubles Job
35. 18. Hac figura Cherubinorum repraesentati fuerunt Angeli dei Riv. Thirdly By the Cherubims which were at the two ends of the Mercy-Seat we may understand the blessed society of Angels Mat. 22. 30. who shall joyne with us in a pleasing and complacential harmony The praises of the most high being eternally celebrated by the confederate praises of Saints and Angels Fourthly In the Tabernacle there was an Altar Exod. Post Christum justi et sancti omnes consummati et perfecti erunt in gloriâ Alap 27. 1. to denote the sanctity and the unspotted holiness of our devotion above Our worship before the Throne shall resemble the Lamb who sits upon the Throne in unspotted purity We shall be alwayes eating of the tree of Life there shall be no tree of Good and Evil to hazzard our disobedience We shall have no need then to complain of the iniquity of our holy things then the services of just men shall Heb. 12. 23. be as their spirits made perfect It is not possible that all tears should be wiped away from the eyes of the Saints Rev. 21. 4. before all blemishes are fetched out of their persons and all stains washed away from their services Fifthly In the Tabernacle there was a Candlestick Exod. Tobernaculo suit candelabrum speciei planae et extensae placentae instar Riv. 25. 31. to inform us of the clear vision we shall have of God in our heavenly Sabbath 1 Cor. 13. 12. There shall be no partition wall to debar our sight no intervenient pillar of a cloud to abate our light no curtain drawn to cast a shade on our sight but all shall lye open to make way for our Deum cerneraus non quod deus faciem habeat sed phrasi hebraicâ cognitio nostra erit clara et intuitiva Par. fullest and everlasting views Then we shall see God intuitively as the School-men speak and Moses his request Exod. 33. 13. shall be answered in every particular Our knowledge of God shall be intimate and familiar Our minds shall be a clear skie without the covering or vaile of any darkness nothing shall remaine to interpose or hinder our freest vision of the sacred Trinity Exod. 33. 11. Sixthly In the Tabernacle there was a Table on which Deus omnem caliginem mentibus et cordibus nostris absterget et tam sensus quà m animos nostros coelesti luce perfectissime perfundet stood the Shew-bread Exod. 25. 23 30. to signifie to us the rare satiety of our blessed fruitions above In our heavenly Sabbath we shall be satisfied but never surfeited Our Masters joy cannot cloy us the musicks of the Bride-chamber will ravish but not weary us they will be our triumph not our trouble the songs about the Throne of the Lamb will never put a distast upon us Here lies the difference between Earthly and Heavenly delights the first Mat. 25. 10. drown the other draw out our appetite the pleasures of Mat. 25. 21. this life blunt of the other life blow up our desires Vo luptates terrenae saturant non satiant voluptates caelestes satiant non saturant Seventhly The Table in the Tabernacle was to be made of Shittim-wood which will not decay or putrifie to deuote the indefective eternity of all our good things above Christ purchases are like himself a holy one which will not see corruption It is observable that glory which in one place is called a crown of Righteousness 2 Tim. 4. 8. in another is called a crown of Immortality 1 Pet. 5. 4. onely to shew that Eternity is the richest pearl in the Saints crown Another representation and type of our heavenly Sabbath and Rest may be the land of Canaan First This plentifull land was freely promised and as Deut. 9. 6. freely given to the people of Israel Deut. 9. 6. so the gift of God is eternal life Rom. 6. 23. our heavenly inheritance is the gratuitous bounty of our heavenly father free grace is our best and only tenour Secondly The land of Canaan was gained by Conquest Joshuahs sword paved Israels way to that fruitful soyle their heads were to be crowned with Laurel the emblem of Acts 14. 17. victory before their hearts were to be filled with food and Rev. 2 7. gladness and the lushious plenties of Canaan which was Rev. 3. 5. the larger Paradise of the world And the delicacies of heaven Rev. 3. 12. are given to the Conquerour This truth is so frequently Rev. 3. 21. inculcated in Scripture and so often pressed by Christ as Rev. 21. 7. if our beloved intended our meditations should dwell there Thirdly The land of Canaan flowed with milk and honey 2 Sam. 24. 19. Josh 5. 6. It was rich and plenteous to a miracle holy 1 Chro. 21. 6. writ affirms One Million three hundred thousand men were maintaned in it besides women children and impotent persons and yet this land was of a small and inconsiderable compass These outward plenties did only set forth Psal 36. 8. Phrasi istâ Intra in gaudium domini tui universa denotatur beatitudo cum non possâ—t esse major gloria servi Chrysosâ— the copious delights of glory In our heavenly Sabbath there are rivers of pleasure Psal 36. 8. Legions of Angels Mat. 26. 53. One hundred forty four thousand of glorified Saints Rev. 7. 4. Fulness of joy Psal 16. 11. and pleasures in the plural number to shew their plenty and pleasures for evermore to denote their eternity Fourthly The Land of Canaan was entred by armed Israelites but when they had taken possession the Arms were laid aside and every one safe under his own Vine and his own fig-tree Mic. 4. 4. And so the Saints in this life put In vita Aeternâ perfecta erit tranquillitas aeterna securitas Ger. on the whole armour of God Eph. 6. 12. and in that Coat of Male out-vy Caesar who fought and was victorious in fifty battels but death at last puts an end to these sharp encounters and the Saints weapons though not their honour is laid in the dust and so entring a better Canaan they sit under the true Vine John 15. 1. with complacency and 1 Cor. 2. 9. inconceiveable joy to all everlasting The Temple of Solomon was an illustrious type of our heavenly Sabbath First When that glorious structure was built there was no noise of ax or hammer no tool of Iron gave the least disturbance 1 Kings 6. 7. Every thing was fitted before it was brought to prevent the clamorous confusions of workmen and their instruments So our supernall Sabbath in Rev. 21. 4. Isa 38. 14. Psal 38. 8. Psal 6. 6. glory shall admit of no noise no harsh or displicent sound no heavy groans or uncomfortable sighs no roaring out for the disquietness of our heart or chattering like a Crane in doleful prayer and complaint there shall be
10. 25. The Prophet calls for full vials to be poured out upon them But prayer never better becomes a family then on the morning of the Lords day Our closet devotions and family prayers common to other Numb 28. 9. days must not be omitted on this blessed day but rathet augmented It is worth our notice that the first service of Exod. 30. 7. the Jews on their Sabbath was burning incense before the Lord Exod. 30. 7. Now family prayer is the burning of incense in our family every branch of the family joyning in prayer doth as it were fill his hand with incense and so offer it up in Christs merit which is the sweetness of our 2 Cor. 1. 3. incense to the father of mercies and how perfumed must Sicut suffitus sursum ascendunt et odorem suavem praebent sic preces sanctorum coelestia petunt et deo grâ—â—ae sunt that house and family be where so much incense is offered Let our whole family in the morning of the Sabbath cry out seek the Lord O our souls As Mary Magdilen she was early up to seek him whom her soul loved Mat. 20. 1. John 20. 1. Mark 16. 2. She was last at the Cross and first at the Sepulchre And O that our love could keep pace with hers The whole family shall be as morning stars to sing together Job 18. 7. and pour out their souls in the bosom of God this is worship like that of heaven where the multitude the whole host of heaven sing forth the praises Job 38. 7. of God together And in this we follow the clew of Reason First Families have their wants as well as single persons they may want prepared hearts composed spirits exerted graces to meet with God on his holy day that which is the complaint of one may be the moan of the whole family as if some one string in an instrument be struck another string trembles heart may answer heart throughout the whole family Secondly Spiritual grace is as necessary to the whole family as it is to any particular person and so ardent prayer is as indispensible The whole land of Aegypt came to Joseph for Corn because of their want Every foul in the family Gen. 41. 57. had need to beg for the beauties of Christ that he may meet pleasingly with his beloved on his own day Grace is the comeliness of the Servant as well as the Master of the Child as well as of the Parent In the fourth Commandment the injunction is laid upon all within our gates to keep holy the Sabbath Exod 20. 10. Thirdly Moreover the whole family is to attend upon Quamvis nullus advena ad hoc cogebatur ut circumcideretur tamen ad auditum divinae legis adhibebatur et die Sabbati ad sacrum otium constringebatur Muscul publick worship and prayer is both the plow and the harrow to prepare the ground of our hearts to meet with God and to receive the immortal seed which is able to save our souls Jam. 1. 21. Indeed the Apostle adviseth us to pray continually 1 Thes 5. 17. but then more especially when we are going to the publick assembly to prepare us for those solemn Ordinances wherein we joyn issue with the Saints in holy worship and for this God will be intreated Families must not rush upon Ordinances as the Horse into the battel but prayer must prepare the way and so let us feed Ezra 8. 23. upon the Manna of the word and drink of the truths of the Jer. 8. 6. Gospel Fourthly Family prayer makes a musicall harmony Consort Vna communis oratio quam unâ mente et fidem Jesum inculpatâ protulerunt Ignat ad Magn. is the life of melody a heavenly host celebrated Christs Nativity Luke 2. 13. Not a single Seraphim but a quire of Angels In the primitive times there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One common consent and harmony of prayers And Clemens Alexandrinus tells us That in the golden dayes of the Church there used to be on the Lords day a pile and heap of suppliants having one voice and one mind in their prayers and addresses to God It was the wish of Athanasius in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanas Apology to the Emperor Constantius That all might lift up the same voice to God without any dissonancy or disorder Vnited prayers are the stronger voice united sighs are the thicker cloud united tears are the fuller stream and so make the deeper impression upon the divine breast The devotions of a family must needs make a greater noise then one single cry to awaken the Lord to give answers of love and grace A single instrument may make musick but no harmony As we must take the opportunities of prayer in the closet and in the family on the morning of a Sabbath so we must look to the qualifications of our prayers Every prayer is not an engine to batter heaven we must so pray that we may obtain we must therefore look to the character as well 1 Cor 9. 24 as to the custom of praying Our prayers both in the closet in the family and likewise in the publick assembly must be fetched from the heart Christiani usi sunt precibus prout illis suggerit Sp. s sine monitore qui de pectore orabant Tertul. not lip labour only then they are lost labour Tertullian tells us The Christians in the primitive times needed not a monitor in their prayers to dictate to them they prayed from their own hearts which suggested to them seasonable and sutable petitions And the Apostle tells us That the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much Jam. 5. 16. The original word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A working prayer when the heart works in holy affections and yearnings as the Bee in the midst of its wax and honey Success may be much known by the heat and warmth of our spirits Luke 11. 8. We translate the word importunity but it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 impudency In the times of the Law the sweet perfumes in the censers were burnt before they asscended When we go to our closets or our families we must look to our affections in our addresses to God get Cant. 4. 6. them fixed by the Holy Ghost that they flame up towards Vtinam eodem semper ardore orari possim tunc erit responsum fiat ut velis Luth. God in devout and religious ascents There is language in groans a voice there is in weeping Psal 6. 6. Sighs have their speech and are articulate before God Indeed it is no easie thing to work a lazy dead heart to a necessary height of affection the weights always running down-ward but they must be wound up by force as the weight of a clock must be tugged up by the strings And when our affections are pulliced up it is hard to keep them so like Moses his
Exod. 17. 10. hands they are apt to faint and fall down but a continued violence and force must keep our affections in their highest sphere The Bird cannot stay in the Air without continual flight and motion of the wings nor can we persist in affectionate prayer without constant toil with our own hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Mart. Apol 2 affections faint and thoughts scatter weariness makes way for wandring so that we must take pains to keep our affections sailing towards heaven we must keep the wind of the spirit and row at the Oar that we be not sinfully becalmed and so miss of the end of our voyage Justin Martyr observes That the prefect of the assembly in his time used to pray with his utmost strength So then our prayers on the morning of the Sabbath must be cordiall and affectionate Our prayers must be cloathed with humility we must pray in a sense of divine purity and of our own unworthiness Luke 18. 23. Not only the bended knee but the submissive Isa 66. 3. spirit becomes prayer Christ himself kneeled down and prayed Luke 22. 41. On the morning of a Sabbath we Quatuor sunt gradus humilitatis Primus est contemptibilem se esse cognoscere Secunduâ— de hoc dolere Tertius hoc confiteri Quartus Aequo animo ferre se contemptibilitèr tractarâ— Ansel have great things to beg and we our selves usually give our charity not to the sturdy but to the stooping beggar If we look for blessings from Gods hand it is fit we should lie at Gods feet Christ himself melted Heb. 5. 7. and shall not we stoop and be humble in prayer Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed Isa 38. 2. as being conscious of his own unworthiness covering his face with blushes which the world must not see and so confounded in himself he pours out his soul before God In this holy duty we lie at the allowance of Gods mercy and most rationall it is we should lie at the foot-stool of Gods Throne The Publicans stroke on his breast which was an evidence of his humility and self-abhorrency made his way to that acceptation the Luke 18. 13. proud Pharisee could not attain unto Our closet and family prayers on the morning of the Sabbath must be sharpened and spirited wirh the sense of want and with hungrings and desires after supplies The Mat. 5. 6. Neh. 1. 11. Luke 11. 13. Non frigidè à deo petere debemus beneficia sed affici nos oportet sensu et vehementi desiderio illarum rerum quas à deo petimus Daven beggar cryeth loudest his rags make him roar we are cloyed in our apprehensions and we are cool in our Petitions Necessity inflames importunity Were we but sensible on the morning of a Sabbath to come to our case in hand what need we have of sins pardon of an understanding heart of a hearing ear of a holy and suitable frame of spirit for divine Ordinances and to run profitably through the duties of the whole Sabbath surely our hearts would be like coals of Juniper Psal 120. 4. we should burn with ardency and importunity We pray most fervently when we pray most feelingly want is the bellows of desire Let In petendo panem nostrum quotidiunum egestatem mendicitatem nostram agnoscimus us therefore study a sense of our spiritual wants and that will set the wheel of prayer on going with the greatest speed and eagerness Let these introductory prayers on a Sabbath be animated with faith That grace makes every duty weight and every service without it if it be put into the ballance will be found too light In our prayers we must be perswaded of the Heb. 11. 6. 1 John 5. 14. Psal 10. 17. mercifulness of Gods nature to encline and bow his ear to them of the riches of his promises to encourage them of the infiniteness of his power to fulfill and accomplish them Olea Arbor pinguedine suâ fertur nunquam deficere sed folia sub aquis manere possunt virentia Par. or else all our requests are like the bird with clipt wings they may flutter up and down the ground but they can rise no higher We must believe that God can fill every chink of our desires and that he will send home the Dove with the Olive branch in his mouth These annexed Scriptures will further evince this truth 1 John 5. 14. Mat. 21. 22. Psal 141. 2. Jam. 1. 6. Psal 55. 17. Where David saith He shall hear my voice O rare act of vigorous faith In a word Then Jude v. 20. we pray aright when we pray in the Holy Ghost His concurrence is necessary God will own nothing in prayer but Rom. 8. 26 27 what comes from his spirit any other voice is strange and barbarous to him God delights not in the flaunting of parts and in the unsavory belches of a carnal heart nor in the tunable cadency of words which is only an empty ring in Gods ear But the method of the Lord is to prepare the 1 Kings 18. 38. heart and then to grant the request Psal 10. 17. Our heart is opened first and then God opens his ear Fire from Potentia ad precandum non est ex nobis metipsis sed ex spiritu sancto Psal 147. 9. Vt adjuetis me in Orationibus i. e. ut concertetis in agone mecum graeâ—è est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heaven to consume the sacrific was the solemn token of acceptation heretofore 1 Kings 18. 38. Fire from heaven is the token still even an holy ardour wrought in us by the Holy Ghost Indeed prayer is a work too hard for us we can babble of our selves but we cannot pray without the Holy Ghost we can put words into prayer but the spirit must put affections without which prayer is but cold prattle and spiritless talk Our necessities may sharpen but they cannot enliven our prayers The carnal man may cry unto God as young Ravens and as the rude Marriners did in Jonahs ship but now gracious affection is quite another thing There may be cold and raw wishes after grace in an unbeliever but Jonah 1. 6. serious and spiritual desires after the same blessed gift these Hos 12. 4. we must have from the Holy Ghost Quest Did we consider what prayer properly is we should then easily see the necessity of the spirits assistance Prayer is a Qui precatur debet esse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 certans et luctans etiam cum ipso deo Daven work which will cost us travel of heart Acts 1. 14. a working spirit Jam. 5. 16. an earnest striving Rom. 15. 30. and contending with God himself Col. 4. 12. It is very observable that the party Jacob wrestled with Gen. 32. 25. is called a Man an Angel nay he is called God a man for his shape and the form he assumed an Angel to denote the
as they came to them like the Beasts in Noahs Ark they went in unclean and they came out unclean how necessary then is it that we should pray for a firm memory to record sacred truth as well as a free heart to entertain it Fourthly Let us on the morning of a Sabbath pray for a tender conscience to fall down before the power and force of the word Conscience is the strongest Fort for the word to take it is the most unruly patient for the word to cure Oftentimes the word takes the ear nothing is more musical Ezek. 33. 32. The word takes the tongue nothing more commended then the Preacher and the Sermon Ezek. 33. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sua vitèr Nay the work taketh the affections Mark 6. 20. Herod that miscreant Prince heard John the Baptist gladly Nay often the word takes the judgment nothing is accounted more rational The fickle Jews were convinced never man spake as Jesus Christ John 7. 46. But all this while conscience lies asleep and is not awakened from its dream Conscience all this while is as fast asleep in the bosom as Jonah in the ship Jon. 1. 6. and nothing minds the storm Conscience may be seared 1 Tim. 4. 2. and so feel nothing of the sharpness of the word conscience may be defiled 1 Tit. 15. and so mind nothing of the mâ—ssage of the word conscience may be evil Heb. 10. 22. and so fling away from the warnings of the word and therefore how should we beg of God that conscience may be impartial in waiting upon holy Ordinances A yielding conscience is the best auditor at a Sermon This was Josiahs praise he wept and Sacrae Scripturae sic exaratae sunt ut scire volentes sciant et litis studiosi ansam litigandi facillimè arripiant Camer was tender at the hearing of the Law 2 Chron. 34. 27. The soul lies in a fair way to life and Salvation when conscience blushes at the reproof of sin when conscience startles at the hearing of judgment when conscience is convinced of the necessity of Christ and of the beauty of holiness and that only a holy life leads to a holy God Indeed the principal work of the Gospel is to deal with conscience and it is the great work of God himself in the Gospel to rowse Non periclitor docere ipsas Scripturas ita dispositas esse ut moteriam subministrant etiam haereticis Tertul. conscience from its sleepiness to quiet its rage to take away its prejudices and to bring it into a calm temper that with meekness it may receive the engraffed word which is able to save the soul Jam. 1. 21. Men of polluted consciences can arm themselves against the assaults of the word now that we should lay down the weapons and submit to the force and power of truth this is to be begged by sollicitous and importunate prayer Fifthly We must intreat the Lord that the fruit of all Cingulo veritatis ornantur qui veritatem in moribus assequuntur Qui omnes res amandas et amplectendas per veritatem per virtutem virtutis verum dictamen metiuntur Quid enim humilitas Quid charitas quid patientio quid â—aeterae virtutes nisi lumina veritatis Ansel his holy Ordinances may appear in our lives The life of Ordinances lies in living Ordinances our sanctity only commends the Sanctuary to hear the word speaks some profession but to live the word only speaks Religion It is very observable that all those Israelites who heard God speaking from Mount Sinai the ten Commandments not living up to the tenor of those ten words as Moses calls them Deut. 10. 2. they all fell in the Wilderness none but Joshua and Caleb came safe to Canaan The sight of Physick doth not cure the patient but the application The word doth not advantage us as it is musicall but as it is medicinal as it is taken inwardly and heats the corrupt heart and the cure will easily be seen in a fruitfull conversation We then become the Gospel when holiness is our dress Those Sermons are most fairly printed which are most conscientiously practised A Sermon of charity is best seen in our alms a Sermon of self-denyal is best seen in our carrying the Cross A Sermon of Repentance is best seen in our tears and reformation To be only hearers of the word is to put a cheat upon our souls Jam. 1. 22. and make the Minister not the Physician but the Mountebank Practice is the shining lamp of the Sanctuary Exod. 27. 20. It was observed among the Jews that they were exact in turning Rom. 3. 2. over the leaves of the Bible and none more incurious to understand John 5. 39. the mind of the Holy Ghost in those sacred pages or to conform themselves to the commands of those divine Oracles they were like some heedless persons who gaze upon a tree but never turn up the leaves to see what fruit is underneath that they might feed upon it for support and satisfaction Such Jewish spirits too too many we have among us who like oscitant and negligent workmen who have their tools about them and set upon no piece for the exercise of their Art But it is rare and worthy when we hear things to be done and do things to be heard That knowledge is best which is practical when the understanding Psal 119. 105. impresses the will as the seal doth the wax and Mat. 7 17. so leaves characters of worth and holiness Our Saviour calls them blessed who hear the word and keep it Luke 11. 28. The hearers life is the Preachers best commendation The true use of Ordinances is not only to increase our knowledge but to regulate our practice The Law is a rule as well as a lamp A sinfull life will unravell all our profession and expose that puppet dressed up to scorn and derision Seneca observed of the Philosophers That when Boni esse desierum simulac docti â—vaserint Senec. they grew more learned they grew less morall This is more venial in a Heathen Philosopher then in a professing Christian We must desire the sincere milk of the word that we may grow thereby 1 Pet. 2. 2. Indeed the word must not onely be the light of our minds but the treasure of our Psal 119. 111. hearts which treasure must be spent upon works of piety and holiness The Lord Jesus makes it an infallible Character of our love to him if we keep his Commandments John 14. 15. First Christ doth not say if ye hear but if ye do my Jam. 2. 22. Rom. 2. 13. Commandments hearing is onely a step towards Religion a good wish for heaven the Scribes and Pharisees heard Qui servat legem dei verè testificatur se non simulate sed verè et sincerè amare deum Zanch. Christ who afterwards brought him to the Cross It is a sharp speech of the holy
Apostle 1 Joh. 2. 4. He that saith I know him and keepeth not his Commandments is a lyar and the truth is not in him Secondly Christ doth not say if you love me dispute subtilly of my Commandments Deeds not disputes evidence 2 Cor. 3. 1 2. our love to Christ the regular acts of our lives not Prov. 2. 10. the ingenious canvasings of the Schools it is not reasoning out of Gods word but walking after that holy word speaketh us the Disciples of the Lord Jesus Thirdly Nor doth Christ say If ye love me prescribe Est observatio praeceptorum Christi omnibus Christi fidelibus eo loco ha benda ut si illa desit in ipsam Christi dilectionem peccare convinâ—amâ—r Musc my Commandments to others read them lectures of sanctity no but live them your selves Personal holiness is of absolute necessity to every Christian It is not our prescription but our obedience not what we dictate to others but what we act our selves shews our interest in and our union to Christ Fourthly Nor doth Christ say keep the Statutes and the Commandments of your predecessours no but keep my Commandments it is not a plausihle custome but an undefiled conscience speaks the Christian This the Lord pleads Acts 24. 16. with Israel of old Ezek. 20. 18 19. But I said unto their Children in the wilderness walk ye not in the statutes of your Ezek. 20. 18. Fathers neither observe their judgements nor defile your selves Mat. 15. 3 6. with their Idols I am the Lord your God walk in my statutes Mat. 7. 9. 13. and keep my judgements and do them The Pharisees darling Gal. 1. 14. was the tradition of their Fathers and they were the Master-pieces of Hypocrisie Col. 2. 8. Fifthly Nor doth Christ say if ye love me keep and observe Numb 15. 39 40. what seems right to you no but keep my Commandments though severity be written upon their very forehead Deut. 12. 8. though it be to the carrying of my Cross to the denyal of your selves to the laying down of your lives for my sake Non spectatores sed luctatores non qui vident sed qui vincunt in agone et certamine coronabuntur Alap and keep all my Commandments not what are pleasing to your flesh but what are enjoyned by my word So then if we have any love to Christ holy practice must be the testimonial of it Indeed many Christians are like Children in the Rickets they have big heads but weak joynts they are all for notions and head-light curious knowledge and airy speculations but they wave practical truths and that wisdome Prov. 2. 10. which entereth upon the heart Prov. 2. 10. This undigested knowledge puts out the fire of zeal as if the waters of the Cum sapientia hominis animum penetrat quà m suavis illi est supra mel et favum Cartw. Sanctuary should put out the fire of the Sanctuary and men could not at the same time be knowing and holy How ardently then should we pray to the Father that Ordinances may so influence our lives that our conversation may bear witness how much we love the Lord Jesus And thus much for the second duty to be performed on the morning of the Sabbath before we joyn with the assembly of Gods people viz. Prayer A third duty incumbent upon us before we joyn with the Congregation is taking pains with our own hearts and this properly is Closet work which we may manage to very good purpose in these four particulars We must endeavour to empty our hearts First To throw out all the trash to cast out all vaine Jer. 4. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nos reddimus cogitationes noxias pro nox iae Aquila vertit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. damni Symmachus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Haec omniasuns fructus vanarum cogitationum thoughts and worldly desires Ponds and Moates are cleansed to keep them wholesome Foolish and vain imaginations will fly-blow all our duties and therefore we must let down the Portcullis of our hearts to keep in straglers and wanderers that they may not interrupt us in our holy worship These Caterpillars will blast and spoyle the fruit of holy Ordinances and for the atchieving of this necessary worke First Let us beg of Christ that he would whip these buyers and sellers out of the Temple of our souls The spirit of God can sweep away these Locusts and supply us with more noble and heavenly cogitations he can drop divine meditations into our hearts and turn the dross of flatulent thoughts into the gold of spiritual and seraphicall He is called a holy spirit not onely from those gracious impressions he stamps upon the heart but likewise from those divine infusions he instills into the head and so the whole man is his workman-ship in Jesus Christ Secondly We may likewise lash and correct these vaine Eph. 2 10. Vndenâ—m sit facultas bona opera saciendi immò et bona cogitandi ab eo à quo fimus novae creaturae nempe à deo A quo enim Arbor habetut sit bona ab eodem habet ut bonos proferat fructus Zanch. thoughts which flit up and down in our minds by setting before our hearts the future judgement when thoughts shall be canvased as well as words and actions sinfull thoughts at any time are accountable but those which defile the Sabbath are of a double dye and are written in red Letters The consideration of a judgement day will turn Hagars and Ishmaels out of door carnal and foolish imaginations Indeed we are apt with Lots Wife to look backward towards the worldly pleasures of Sodom towards the vanities of the world which hath too much of our heart even on the holy Sabbath of God but pondering on our future account we shall keep our faces steddy towards Sion Thirdly We must consider how much this trash of the heart foolish and vain thoughts will distract us in duty Heb. 4. 14. they are like the ringing of Bells in Sermon time which drown the voice of the preacher and stop the ear of the Mat. 13. 22. hearer These vain thoughts choak the Word that it dies away untimely and works not lively upon the soul This is Isa 29. 13. that setting the heart far from God when we seem to approach to him in Ordinances which the Lord so much complains of Isa 29. 13. Distracted persons are fit for nothing nor hearts distracted and torn with the varieties of flashy conceptions Fourthly Let us take up strong and fixed resolutions that we Haec suit causa excaecationis judaeorum quia scil deum nominabant et honorabant ore tenus corde vero erant ab eo elongati et aversi will wash our hearts in innocency and so we will compass Gods Altar Holy resolution is a good guard to the heart it will
other things look with a delightfull aspect Thus the Psalmist tripudiates and exults with joy Psal 118. 24. He was in a high degree of joy And indeed if the feast be made for laughter as the wise man Vmbra fit ex corpore et luce et est itinerantium refrigerium ab aestu et pratectio a tem pestate Christus umbra et tutela est et refrigerium humani generis quod gravi peccatorum onere premebatur Honor. speaks Eccles 10. 19. That day wherein Christ feasteth his Saints with the choysest mercies may well command the greatest spiritual mirth The Lords day is the highest thanksgiving day and deserves much more then the Jewish Purim to be a day of gladness and a good day Esth 9. 17 18 19. On this day we enjoy communion with Saints and shall we not rejoyce in those excellent ones Psal 16. 3. On this day we have fellowship with Christ and shall not we sit under his shadow with great delight Cant. 2. 3. On this day we are partakers of the Ordinances and shall we not be joyfull in the house of prayer Isa 56. 7. On this day we have special converse with the God of Ordinances and who would not draw water with joy out of the wells of salvation Isa 12. Zach. 2. 10. Phil. 4. 10. Isa 58. 13. 3. Surely when we are in the midst of so much musk we must needs be perfumed it is Gods command as well as our priviledge to make the Sabbath a delight And whether we are dilating on Gods works or attending on Gods word which are two principal duties of this day they both call for joy and delight David saith Thy testimonies are my delight Psal 119. 24. 77. And Solomon tells us Prov. 25. 25. As cold water to a thirsty soul so is good news from a far Countrey Now the word of God contains the best newes that ever was discovered to the Sons of men Peace on Earth good will towards men Luke 2. 14. and the glad tidings of Gaudete semper si non actu tamen habttu Cajet the Gospel came from Heaven a far Country Indeed the Apostle commands us to rejoyce evermore 1 Thes 5. 16. A Christian may rejoyce with all kinds of joy Phil. 4. 4. First With natural joy in those things which are good Semper subest materia laetandi sanctis et exhibitis et promissis Bern. to nature in health strength beauty riches c. Secondly With spiritual joy with joy in the holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. The Saints must rejoyce in the favour of God and in the fruits and pledges thereof viz. In the pardon of sin in sanctification in hopes of glory Thirdly The Saint as he may rejoyce in all kinds of joy so in all states and conditions both in an adverse and in a 2 Tim. 2. 19. prosperous estate Fourthly In all ages in his Youth and in his declining years Luke 10. 20. Fifthly In all dayes both in our day and in Gods day Gaudete de exhibitione gaudete de promissione quoniam et res plena gaudio et spes plena gaudio gaudete quia expectatis praemia dextrae Heb. 12. 23. 1 Kings 8. 56. However it is Gods Children alwayes have or may have cause of rejoycing The Promise is Their joy shall no man take from them John 16. 22. To this end the Comforter is given to abide with them for ever John 14. 16. And one of the fruits of the holy Spirit is joy Gal. 5. 22. And Bernard observes there will be a continual supply of joy First In things exhibited and already given as the writing of the Saints names in Heaven Luke 10. 20. by an unchangeably decree so that it is as possible for God to cease to be God as to alter his decree of election To which may be added other blessings depending as sins pardoned the person justified the nature healed the soul sanctified all which are matter of unspeakable joy and delight Rom. 8. 37 38. But Secondly If the things exhibited should faile us yet we might rejoyce in things promised and these promises are fresh springs of continual joy For Gods promises to his Promissimes divinae non excidant neque irritae reddantur people are Cabinets filled with the richest Jewels Exchequors filled with the greatest Treasures First They are infallible for their certainty 2 Cor. 1. 20. Secondly They are before the world for their Antiquity Tit. 1. 2. Thirdly They are precious promises for their rarity In dei promissis nulla est falsitas quia in faciendis nulla est omnipotentis difficultas Fulgent 2 Pet. 1. 4. The promises are a firm inheritance to the Saints Heb. 6. 12. They are unshaken pledges of better things Rom. 4. 21. The Saint hath a double pledge to assure him of future happiness 1. One within him in his own breast Gods holy spirit of promise Eph. 1. 13 14. 2. One without him in Gods word those glorious promises recorded in sacred writ I say glorious for the promises are vessels laden with the richest fraught Promissiones sunt bona in coelis nobis promissa et haec possidebunt fides et patientia Alap 1. The Saints have promises for all seasons 1. For times of affliction Isa 43. 2. Isa 63. 9. 2. For times of temptation Satan shall not buffet them but they shall have the shield of a promise to defend themselves 2 Cor. 12. 9. 3. For times of decay and declination when the stock of grace runs low and the poor believer languisheth in his inward man Phil. 1. 6. 4. For times of necessity Mat. 6. 33. Heb. 13. 5. He that Haec celebris est promissio non te deseram neque derelinquam hebraice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deus erit scutum et clypeus suis hath the fruit shall have the paper and the packthread to bind it up in The Earth is the Lords Psal 24. 1. as well as the Heavens Isa 58. 14. 5. For times of prosperity Deut. 28. 8. Their good things shall be sweetned with his goodness and he will shed a perfume upon all their encrease Secondly As the promises which God hath made to his people are calculated for all times so are they repleat and enriched with all varieties of good things Numb 14. 10 1 Tim. 4. 8. Deut. 19. 8. First Of good things temporal Canaan a land flowing with milk and honey was the land of promise Deut. 19. 8. The good things of this life which smooth and sweeten our way to eternity are onely waters which gush out from the rock of a promise Isaac's store of Servants Gen. 26. 14. and Gen. 18. 18. Jacob's store of Cattle Gen. 30. 43. they were the fruit of a Gen. 22. 18. promise made to Abraham that God would bless his Seed Acts 3. 25. Gen. 12. 3. And Secondly So of spiritual good things of pardoning grace Isa 55. 1. of converting grace
up Psal 63. 4. The mouth must be filled with praises Psal 63. 5. The ear must bow and the knee Luke 21. 2. must bend Psal 95. 6. The body is one of the two mites we indigent worshipers can offer to God But for the better unfolding of this particular viz. How we must comport our bodies in publick worship there is something to be acted and something to be avoided First Something the outward man must Act. 1. We must lift up our hands in prayer this the Psalmist enjoyn us a a duty Psal 134. 2. and proposes his own example Psal 119. 48. What speaks more humility in prayer then to lift up the hands to receive the Almes Nor doth it shew less then our dependance upon God when by the lifting up of our hands we seem to point at our benefactor The Prophet Jeremiah 2 Lam. 19. joynes the pouring out of the heart and the lifting up of the hands together Moreover it pretends to a holy violence when we lift up our hands to wrestle with God and to storm heaven Christ Luke 24. 50. lifted up his hands in benediction and we must do the same Numb 16. 22. in supplication Secondly We must compose our countenances to holy Reverence Dicit Maria respexit humilitatem ancillae suae non virginitatem Bern. The Pharisees indeed disfigured their faces Mat. 6. 16. But their hypocrisie must not discourage our piety nothing doth more beautifie a serious worshipper then a becoming gravity Did we consider the infiniteness of that Majesty we are to deal withal the brightness of his eye the purity of his nature the strength of his hand the severity of his judgements and likewise weigh the account we must give for Gospel opportunities this would put a holy astonishment upon our faces and cover them with a reverential dread Lev. 10. 3. we know the offering up of strange fire but once cost two Priests their lives God loves a trembling at his word Isa 66. 2. Isa 66. 2. Slight carriages in worship more become a wanton Jupiter then an awfull Jehovah who is a consuming fire Heb. 12. 29. Thirdly We must bend the ear to the severest attention How often doth our Saviour call for a hearing ear this was Mat. 13. 43. the Epiphonema and conclusion of every Sermon to his Auditours Mat. 11. 15. Mark 4. 9. Luke 8. 8. Luke 14. 35. And Mark 7. 16. this was the winding up of every Epistle to the Churches Rev. 2. 7 11 17 29. Rev. 3. 6. 13 22. It is said of Christs Auditors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they did hang upon his mouth in hearing him Luke 19. 48. They did sit upon his lips that no word might escape them but they might arrest it for soul advantage The ear is the proper door to the heart this is the postern to let in truth study then to make it a door to salvation by a serious and diligent attention Divine truths like those Angels who Gen. 19. 3. came to Lot must not be shut out but entertained and the ear is the portal by which they must enter Attention Fides est donum dei Eph. 2. 8. sed non omnium 2 Thes 3. 2. electis solum datur Tit. 1. 11. sed hoc donum deus non instillat cordibus immediatè sed per auditum verbi sui auditum sc externum operante intus sp sancto Praecones verbi sonant auribus aures ad mentem deserunt though it be not an onely yet it is a necessary duty the ear lies in the way to the soul as the light shines not into the house but by the window Faith saith the Apostle Rom. 10. 17. comes by hearing and justification cometh by faith Rom. 5. 1. So that attention in holy Ordinances layes the first stone in the structure of glory He who is an attentive and serious hearer layes a good foundation a foundation of Jasper to found the New Jerusalem upon The ear is the fort which the Minister is to assault but the heart is the strong hold which the spirit is to take but if we are not attentive and resist the first on-set that of the Minister we shall lay discouragements before the second that of the spirit we shall grieve the spirit of the Lord Eph. 4. 30. But let not our careless attention obstruct and hinder the spirits saving operation And let us not loose those blessed truths by neglectfull hearing which Christ hath bought by his painfull bleeding Are the glad tidings of the Gospel so Adest sp dei per doctrinam auribus haustam mentem illuminans c. slight a message Are divine truths so mean a Doctrine Are Sermons of faith and godliness such low discourses that we will not be attentive in the hearing of them Surely Luke 19. 47. this is below the Religion of the Jews who diligently heard Luke 20. 1. Christ in the Temple though afterwards they brought him to the Cross It was the great complaint of God that the John 8. 20. people would not hear him Isa 28. 12. Lâ—â— us then be exact and very diligent in our outward attention when we come to the publick Ordinances alwayes remembring that the outward Court brings to the inner Court and that leads to the Holy of Holies But as we must watch our outward behaviour in publick worship to know what we are to act so likewise to understand what we are to avoid CHAP. XXVIII Sleeping in Ordinances is a great and daring provocation IN publick Ordinances we must avoid all sleep and slothfulness this surely is a great and general distemper broken in upon us much to be lamented and now more fully to be discovered This was the brand of the foolish Virgins they were asleep as the Bride-groom came and so their happiness Mat. 25. 5. was a dream We dare not sleep when a King speaks to us and yet we will adventure it when a God speaks to us It is very uncouth and inconsistent that we should be shutting our eyes when we should be opening our hearts Josh 24. 27. that our bodies should sleep when our souls should awake Jer. 7. 13. that the street door should be shut when the closet door should be open viz. in publick Ordinances and in the Acts 1. 16. holy worship of the Almighty Surely those who commit this sin did never really examine it they adventure upon 2 Pet. 1. 21. the practice of it because they never dived into the bottom of it But let such know that sleeping in Ordinances is every way offensive It is offensive to the eye of God When we are in Ordinances we are more especially under the eye of God though Psal 63. 2. he is excluded no where yet his presence is more peculiarly Mat. 18. 20. in the assemblies of his Saints He more particularly walks Isa 4. 5. in the midst of his Candlesticks Now there are
severall attributes in God which bespeak our greatest attention and Rev. 1. 13. devotion in holy Ordinances First His excellent and incomprehensible greatness If we Christus praesens est medio suorum cà m convenerint nomine suo gratiosâ sut praesentiâ had any dread or awe of an infinite Majesty upon us we should throw away all sleep and drowsiness when we come before him in holy worship Let us contemplate on the royalty of his Throne of the brightness of his Majesty and this would awaken us to fear and astonishment Shall a besotted worm stupifie himself by sleep when he is under the full view and immediate eye of the Almighty Surely not only his sences but his reason is asleep and his whole man is Psal 11. 4. in a benummed Lethargy Cannot infiniteness startle us And the dread of the Almighty pull us out of our dream One sparkling of his eye could confound us if he should command a ray of the Sun it would fire us out of our sloath and scorch us into nothing or that which is worse then nothing Secondly His omnisciency We sleep but God doth not Psal 121. 4. slumber he fully seeth our desperate carelesness and wilfull drowsiness in holy Ordinances There is no dropping asleep in a croud or taking a nap in some obscure place can Gen. 28. 17. evade the full view of Gods eye He takes notice of the frame of our hearts much more of the posture of our bodies 1 Chron. 28. 9 When thou sleepest in the time of worship there is no curtain before thee nothing to abate the view of God or darken his eye God sees all thy snoring indulgence which is excessively Psal 139. 12. offensive to him Thirdly His holiness God is exceedingly displeased with our unbecoming behaviours in holy worship his purity is much provoked by our sinful Lethargy Sleeping in Ordinances it is a sin nay a dangerous sin nay it is a crying sin Psal ◠5. and therefore highly provoking to divine holiness Our Saviour Rev. 3. 1. speaks of some who seemed to be alive and yet were dead And such are sleepy hearers their Pew is their grave their cloaths their winding-sheet and their present sleep their temporary death Indeed sleeping in Ordinances is a sin against nature it self The Sun will not stop in its course in attending on the world but the foolish sleeper stops in his attendance on the word and yet the Sun receives no reward but the Christian looks for one and though he hath snorted away a Sermon he presumes he hath discharged a duty and so is in his road to life eternall Fourthly His justice which is easily awakened by his holiness a just God will not endure a drowsie hearer The young man who slept at Pauls Sermon fell down from the Acts 20. 9. third loft and was taken up dead In mercy God presents the Gospel to our attention and in justice he will punish our want of attention God indeed took away a rib from Gen. 2. 21. Adam when he was asleep Gen. 2. 21. But he will not take Edormiente potiús quam vigilante formavit deus mulierem quia deus se ei in somnis revelari voluit sicut se revelare solebat prophetis Par. away a lust from any of the Sons of Adam while they are asleep in the Paradise of Ordinances A Lamb will not sleep in the paw of a Lion in the reach of an enraged Panther how much less should fond and formall sinners sleep in the presence in the most peculiar presence of him who is the Lion of the tribe of Judah Rev. 5. 5. who can tear our souls like a Lion Psal 7. 2. nay tear us in pieces and there is none to deliver Psal 50. 22. and break us in pieces as a potters vessel Jer. 19. 11. to be made whole no more Jer. 48. 38. Sleeping in Ordinances is distastful to the view of Angels Those holy spirits frequent the assemblies of the Saints 1 Cor. 11. 10. And they are witnesses of our carriage and Nos Angelos habemus obedientiae inobedientiae no strae c. Chrys Theo. Theoph. Ans deportment of our obedience and disobedience as Theophylact Anselm Chysostom and others aver and how much disgust must it cast on those holy and most Seraphick beings those blessed Courtiers of heaven whose concerns are so much wrapt up in the honour of God to see a stupified formalist with his sences chained up in unseasonable Angeli templum percurrunt singulorum habitus gesta vota explorent Nil sleep when the Eye Heart Mind and all should be attentive to grasp after divine truth in the publick dispensations of it and when the inward and the outward man like winde and tide both should meet to carry away and treasure up the discoveries of Gods word and counsel to him The Angels see our foolish glances wanton looks undecent postures they have a strict eye upon us in Ordinances O then let us not damp these glorious spirits by our uncomely and unworthy drowsiness This sinfull sleepiness is disquieting to the assembly of the Saints with whom we do associate Do we know what hearts are saddened what spirits are grieved what passions are raised by our sleepy carriage and our drowsie behaviour Our Saviour charges us not to offend one single Saint much 1 Cor. 10. 32 less an assembly of Gods people when we are met together in divine worship When we see one sleeping and Mat. 18. 6. hear another talking and observe another rowling his eyes from one object to another is not this to turn the Temple Sed etiam Christi monitu quantò magis necessaria tantò magis cavenda sunt scandala ne à nobis vel concitentur vel capiantur into a Babell and the order of the Church into confusion and to attempt to build Gods house a new with axes and hammers A sleepy hearer is a spot in our Feasts like a seared bough in a green tree a disturbance and grief to the assembly like a broken string in a lute which jars the Musick This stupid drowsiness is very prejudiciall to the work we are about when we come to Ordinances we are employed in the work of heaven This is opus dei Gods work a holy and sacred work In Ordinances we deal with God we pay our tribute to God we have communion with God we drive a great trade with 1. Vt in eâre quam agimus sit tota animi intentio 2. Vt sit inexplicabilis cupiditas benè operandi 3. Vt accedat assiduitas continuatio Basil God and shall we sleep in Gods work Basil observes there are three things requisite for the carrying on Gods work First That the mind be wholly set upon it and taken up in it Secondly That there be a restless desire of doing well Thirdly That there be diligence and unweariedness in the work
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
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
Prophet Jeremy adviseth us Lam. 3. 41. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens The soul is principally interested in all holy duties First Not only because in all holy services God principally eyes the heart Prov. 23. 26. Or Secondly Because Gospel Ordinances chiefly influence and aim at the heart But Thirdly Likewise because the welfare of the soul is the only Port we sail to in all our attendance upon Gospel opportunities It is the souls conviction the souls conversion the souls edification and building up in its most holy faith which is the grand design in every Evangelical administration Now for the composure of our inward man in Eph. 3. 16. holy Ordinances Let us apply our understandings to the word and the work we are about The wise man saith Prov. 20. 27. The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord and when we Haec lux in intellectu in tenebris micans sovenda est studio et diligenti operum dei commentatione et experimentis et otio veluti rubigine corrumpitur Cartw. come to holy Ordinances it is both our duty and our wisdom to snuff this candle that it may burn the brighter to see the mysteries of the Gospel and this is suitable to the Apostolical Counsel 1 Pet. 1. 13. Gird up the loâ—ns of your mind A metaphor taken from travellers who gird their garments close that they may not be impeded and hindred in their journey When we draw nigh to God in Ordinances we must bend our minds and be intent on the word and drink in truth as the parched ground doth the rain we must screw up our minds to an acurate observation of what ever is revealed unto us from divine Writ If the Gospel John 3 19. be light it is the eye of the understanding must behold this light If the Gospel be a day it is the eye of the mind must Rom. 13. 12. discern this day Some hear the word and understand it Isa 6. 10. not and this is Gods judgment But some hear the precious truths of God and entertain them not and this is mans sin Men shut the eye of their understanding by carelesness and neglect We should hear the word as condemned men their pardons as Legatees the Wills wherein their Legacies are set down with that intenseness of minde Preaching if we spur not up the minde to pursue it is a noise Pater nobis deâ— illuminatos oculos cordis nostrâ— ut ejus lumine illustâ—ati Christum plenè agnoscamus Ambr. not the word an inarticulate sound not soul-saving Doctrine And that our understanding may discharge its office prayer must precede That God would open the eyes of our minde that we may see the wonderfull things of the Law Psal 119. 34. and we must beg eye-salve Rev. 3. 18. and that God would give us the spirit of Revelation Eph. 1. 18. to shed a light upon our understandings Luke 24. 45. that we may dive deep into the profound Mysteries of the Gospel We know not what ardent prayer and a diligent minde may Christus solus operit intelleâ—tum Scripturarum Chemnâ— Mel in Ore melos in Aure. Bern. accomplish towards Scripture knowledge Indeed the Gospel is proportionate to every thing in man it is honey to the taste and Gold to the interest of man Psal 19. 10. It is musick to his ear Ezek. 33. 32. light to his eye John 19. and comfort to his heart Rom. 15. 3. And pity it is the shutting of an eye a little rareless remisness and not bending the minde should rob the soul of such unsearchable treasure We must deal with our hearts to embrace the word in the dispensations of it The Gospel is not only to be let in by Prov. 23. 23. Verbem dei sâ—t domesticus non peregrinus non forâ— stare sed in domo cordis continuò versari Daven our apprehensions but to be lockt in by our affections and we are to entertain it not only in the light of it but in the love of it The Apostle complains 2. Thes 2. 10. That many did not entertain the truth in the love thereof that they might be saved The truths of God must have the heart and we buy them not by our audience but our espousals The word must dwell in us Col. 3. 16. and not as a transient guest but as an inmate Scholars may understand the word but Christians embrace it It is a rare speech of the holy Psalmist Psal 119. 20. My soul breaketh for the longing it hath to thy judgments at all times The word is the Mat. 13. 23. seed the heart the ground where this seed must be thrown John 5. 40. David calls the Law not his light but his love Psal 119. 97. and his delight Psal 119. 35. When we come to Ordinances we must resolve to treasure up truth and entertain it as Lot the Angels Gen. 19. 3. Or the Virgin Mary the wonders of her time Luke 2. 19. A refractory will renders all opportunities of grace abortive The two Disciples Luke 24. 32. which came from Emmaus question one with another Whether their hearts did not burn within them when Christ had opened the Scriptures to them intimating to us that the heart is properly the Altar upon which the fire of the word is to be laid to the sacrificing of our lusts and the inflaming of our graces And it is the glorious promise of God to write his Law upon our hearts Jer. 31. 33. Let us meet this blessed promise in bringing our hearts to every Gospel dispensation We must put our memories upon employment when we come to holy Ordinances The memory it is the Secretary of the soul and as at Council boards the Secretary cannot be absent so at Ordinances which are the Council table Acts 20. 27. where soul-concernments are agitated and transacted the memory must not be absent We must not write the word when preached to us in dust but in marble not in a heedless neglect but in a faithfull remembrance We do not throw Pearls into sieves to drop out The paradox is greater Memoâ—ia ignis gehennae est â—emedium apâ—rimè utile contrà omnes tentationes Chrysost Rev. 14. 6. when we put the eternal Gospel into a treacherous and faithless memory Surely we shall never practice that truth we cannot remember if we do not mind the word we shall never live it We cannot read blotted lines or understand torn papers and if the word lie onely upon the surface of the memory it will never get within the bark of the life That Sun-dyall will never give us the time of the day which wants the gnomon to cast the shadow charge thy memory to retain every truth thou hearest Let it pick up the filings John 6. 12. of divine Truth that nothing may be lost The richest Fringes are so many several threads wrought together We do not Agnoscamus
Jer. 5. 14. us then fully in the strength of Christ Phil. 4. 13. resolve Psal 119. 105. when we come to Ordinances the Word shall be a Fire to our dross a Curb to our passions Musique to our ear A Purge to our corruptions a Light to our feet a Card and Acts 17. 18. Compass to our conversations Some hear and deride the Acts 7. 54. Word Some hear and storm at the Word Some hear and Mark 6. 20. onely admire at the Word But let us hear and both admire and reform so hear as to set our dyall according to the Sun of the word And as many as walk according to this Rule Gal. 6. 16. the peace of God shall be upon them and the whole Israel of God Let us take heed of wandring thoughts in holy Ordinances It is storied of Bernard that when he came to the Church Luke 10. 37. door he would say Stay there all my earthly thoughts Let us go and do so likewise When we approach to holy Ornances let us say stay behind me all my secular imaginations all my worldly cares all my vain and impertinent thoughts we are now going to meet with God on the Gen. 22 5. Mount Vain thoughts in holy Worship they are as weeds in the Garden or those painted plants in the Corn which hinder the springing up of the blessed seed of the Word Indeed they are like Thieves who dog us to do us a mischief either to steal away the comforts of the Word or to wound and burden Conscience or to keep the heart in an hurry till Christs message be delivered and the blessed opportunity be over These vain thoughts in Ordinances are the flyes in the ointment the motes in the eye of the soul and the spots in the feast of an Ordinance But here we will first find out the disease and then apply the Remedy All our wandring thoughts in holy Ordinances They are open and offensive to Gods eye They cannot creep so sliely Deus totus oculus est et minima videt Aug. Heb. 4. 12. Jer. 4. 14. Oculus Dei simul universa cernentis non abdita locorum non parietum septa secludunt Non soâ—ùm ei acta et cogitata sed agenda et cogitanda sunt cognita Aug. and closely through the mind but God fully observes them certainly takes notice of them and as surely is angry at them 1 Chron. 28. 9. Gods eye is more peculiarly upon us in holy Worship Beggars crowd not into the Presence-Chamber Vain thoughts what are they but the raggs of the mind the emblems of our nakedness and poverty and shall these thrust in when we are in the Presence-chamber of the infinite Majesty God sees all these Vagrants and shall we converse with him with Concubines in our bosomes How often is it repeated Christ knowing their thoughts Mat. 12. 25. Luke 5. 22. Luke 11. 17. Luke 6. 8. which doth alarm us to keep our thoughts pure especially in the Divine Presence when God meets us in holy Worship And let us seriously consider Christ who is now the Spectatour shall be the Judge of our thoughts and imaginations Impertinent and vain thoughts they very much discompose and distract Duty they are like a broken string in an Instrument which makes the Musique harsh and unpleasant They are the inward noise of the mind which so much disturbs Isa 29. 13. us that we cannot heed with that attention nor pray with that devotion as doth become us As if Musique should be brought into the Room and play while we are hearing a Will read we cannot apprehend one clause in it distinctly and to any purpose such swarmes of inconvenient thoughts hinder the ear from listning to and the heart from fastning upon God in holy Worship they are like Tobiah and Sanballat who hindered the building of Jerusalem What confusion must there be if the Minister speak Nehem. 4. 2. and the Spirit speak and our worldly hearts speak all at the same time whom shall we hear God usually comes in the still Voyce when the ear bends and the heart waits 1 King 19. 12. silently at the door of Salvation Vain thoughts in holy Ordinances they are sinful irregularities the spawn of the Serpent they do not onely disturb but stain our duties They are breaches of Divine Command Prov. 4. 23. When we are in Ordinances we Nocturnas et diurnas excubias collocemus invigilando cordi Cartw. are not onely to thrust out enemies but to keep out wanderers If we watch our hearts we must not onely resist Satan from his attempts but reject foolish thoughts from their intrusion their company being our crime Indeed a careless hearer flings all open and lets in light vain worldly wanton all ranks and degrees of sinful thoughts and imaginations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Captivum ducentes omnem intellectum Syr. Surely it must be a great sin that when in holy duties our hearts should be Gods inclosure we should make them a Common for all beasts of prey to graze upon And how can we bring every thought in obedience to Christ according to Command 2 Cor. 10. 5. When our hearts in a duty are like open Cages for every thoughts to flye out and perch upon any vanity it meets with Our thoughts in duty must not sport and like the Bees run from one flowre of pleasure to another of worldly affairs and so skip over to another of ordinary occurrences and think to suck sweetness from them In Gospel opportunities our 1 Cor. 6. 20. Quòd non caput non pedem non manum petit Deus illud eâ—us sapientiae est consentaneum quippe cordis possessione omnia corporis mem bra sibi addicta et devota habebit Cartw. thoughts are not our own but they are under Authority and must be staked to the spiritual business they are now about they must be confined to Truth to Christ to sacred Counsels and holy instructions which are now in handling and the suggestions of Gods Word which are now laid before them And how can we be said to give God our hearts according to that Command Prov. 23. 26. if our thoughts are tossed too and fro in a loose vagary when we are in Communion with God To give God our hearts is a gift never so rational so necessary so seasonable as when we are in holy duties then this donative is like ripe fruits blown Roses like those Commodites which bear the greatest price So much of the thoughts as wanders from God so much of the heart is estranged and it must be so for Isa 29. 13. thoughts are onely the hearts emissaries And it is very remarkable Mal. 3. 8. that those thoughts which are good in themselves yet if impertinent to the duty in hand viz. prayer hearing receiving c. they are sinfull and irregular As a Limner who eyes the hangings in the Room the fret-work in the
of Rom. 16. 5. Gods people being scattered as fruitful clouds which Col. 4. 15. are melted into their several drops let us repair to the lesser Church our family and follow Christ home and entertain Privata familia quae ob religiosam sanctitatem illustris est ecclesiae nomen promeruit Daven him there with holy communion Christ hath his lesser as well as his greater banquetting house Cant. 2. 4. And will meet us in our houses as well as in his own Mal. 21. 13. the place of more solemn assemblies He who will come to the house of a Pharisee Luke 14. 1. will come to the house of a believer Therefore after the publick ordinances are done and finished let us haste to our habitations as fast as Zacheus to his Luke 19. 6. to the same end with Familiam suam privata fecit ecclesia eam pietate religione exornans Theod. him to entertain our dear Jesus and pursue those family duties which are incumbent upon us which now shall be opened and discoursed upon There are several duties which must take up this interval that it may not be an empty and unbeautiful chasm Let our meal be adorned with temperance and made lushious and sweet with holy and savory discourse Heavenly communication is salt at the table is sauce in the dish Non prius discumbunt quà m Oratio ad deum praegustetur editur quantum esurientes capiunt bibitur quantum pudicis est utile ita saturantur ut qui meminerint etiam per noctem sibi adorandum deum esse Tertul. is a flavour in our drink Full meales are those which are spiritualized and they have most of rarity which have most of heaven Our tables are spread with variety not from our dishes but from our discourse Tertull. speaking of the carriage of private Christians at their meals tells us That they do not sit down before they have prayed they eat as much as may satisfie hunger they drink so much as is sufficient for temperate men and are so filled as they that remember that God must be worshipped even in the night season O the golden temper of these golden times Temperance must be the Caterer and holy discourse must be the musick of our tables Our tongues are instruments but the good spirit must tune them Holy discourses are perfumes which are not only pleasant to our selves but delightful to others they are the trumpets of our piety the sparks which fly from our zeal the disburdening of a gracious soul they are a celestial harmony which makes a meal on a Sabbath pleasant and seraphical Vivunt impii ut bibant et edant sed bibuâ—◠èt edunt bène ut vivant Socrâ—t And therefore let us discourse at our Sabbath meals on some things delivered by the Minister or some spiritual matter which may administer grace to the hearers and let us avoid the common rock of vain and worldly talk Xenocrates the Philosopher being in company with some who used evil language he was very mute and being asked the reason he replyed It hath often repented me that I have spoken but never that I have held my peace Oh that our hearts and lips were heavenly on the Lords day that there might be more sprinkling of grace in our discourses Sermo noster sit ad aedificationem necessitatis Theoph. This would turn our food into Manna and drop dissolved Pearls into our Cup and turn our board into a Communion table Holy discourse it Et ad aedificationem utilitatis Erasm First Warms the heart Secondly It gives vent for grace Thirdly It is the bellows of zeal Et ad aedificationeâ— opportunitatis Sermo aedificet quoties opus vel opportunitas est alios docere Theoph. Fourthly It often awakens conscience Fifthly It is the Gangrene of sin as silence and flattery are the promoters of it Sixthly Nay it countermines Satan and turns him out of the room where our table stands Seventhly Holy discourses are the freedom of imprisoned piety and the Midwife of that holiness which lies in the womb of the heart the turning up of that truly golden Ore they are the Saints Shibboleth which distinguishes him from the foolish world which travels with froth and vanity In a word holy discourse is the ease of Conscience the sacrifice of Religion the Saints refreshment the sinners chain and astonishment heavens eccho the delight of Christian Society It is a twofold Charity First To our selves it enfranchises our affections to Christ our heart is full of love to him and holy discourse gives vent to our full hearts it is the discharge of our duty Cant. 5. 10 11 and so frees us from the guilt of disobedience and Col. 4. 6. moreover it gives fire to our dedolent hearts Our hearts Luke 24. 31. must be awakened and raised sometimes by ordinances Mal. 3. 16. sometimes by prayer sometimes by holy discourses Sequi debet in unaâ—uaque familiâ mutua communicatio et mutua familiae institutio Rivet in Decal Secondly Which likewise are charity to others They may be their satisfaction an answer to their scruples a corrosive to their lusts a check to their sin thou knowest not but thy good discourse may be as an Angel in the way to stop some sinfull progress or a flame to anothers zeal and a salve to anothers sore Such discourse becomes our table on the Lords day and becomes the Sabbath as rich attire the Luke 14. 1 7. beautiful person the garment sets off the person and the person adorns the garment It is reported of the hearers of holy Mr. Heldersham that they would go home from Church discoursing of he powerful and precious truths which were delivered and so they did strew the way home with Roses and made their miles short by heart-sweetning discourse Christ when he was with his little family his twelve Apostles he would always be speaking of the things Deut. 6. 6 7. of heaven Mark 4. 10. Gracious words would flow from Job 32. 18 19 20. him as drops from the fountain or the morning dew from above It was a charge laid upon the Israelites to discourse Deut. 11. 19. of the statutes of God when they were in their Mat. 12. 34. houses sitting with their Children and Servants about them Deut. 6 6 7. The two Disciples going from Emaus Christus suo exemplo declaravit quomedo tempus inter matutinos et vespertinos caetus Sabbati insumendum est Ipse enim suos discipulos dissipatâ turbâ de rebus regni examinavit Chemn were talking of the sufferings and the affairs of Christ and then their dear Mediatour joyns in with them Luke 24. 15. Dr. Bound observeth That when we have heard the word upon a Sabbath we must discourse of it unless we will lose a great part of the fruit of it A talking of worldly affairs will chase away that truth we have been made
and beautiful in it self but it fits not the person who is to wear it Singing of Psalms doth admirably chear and exhilerate the soul The Apostle speaks Eph. 5. 19. Of singing Psalms and Hymns and making melody in our hearts this duty is the Hortatur Christianos Apostolus ad laetitiam et exultationem spiritualem ut laeti et exultantes in Christianismo jubilent Alap sweet shout of the soul the jubilie of the inward man a spiritual exultation the triumphal gladness of a gracious heart a softer rapture We may say of this Service as Tremelius doth of Davids harp That by the musick of it the storms of Sauls spirit were laid and he was composed and serene This Service can calm a perturbed and discomposed spirit Augustine confesseth That oftentimes for joy he wept in the Aug. lib. 3. Confes cap. 6. Church to hear the melody of the peoples singing And Beza acknowledges That at his first enterance into the Congregation Bez. Paraph. in Psal 91. hearing them sing the 91st Psalm by the singing thereof he felt himself exceedingly comforted and he did ever since bear the sence of it dearly engraven on his heart Dr. Bound observes Psalms are most convenient for the Sabbath for that is a time of joy and there is no joy comparable to that we have in Christ Jesus who fills our hearts with joy unspeakable and 1 Pet. 1. 8. full of glory Indeed singing of Psalms it reveals and confines our joy it is the smile and the gracious smile of the soul The Apostle James adviseth us to turn our mirth into the right channel If we be merry let us sing Psalms Jam. Psalmis nos oblectemus et ex hisce hilaritatem nostram promanare annitendum est Daven 5. 13. Our mirth should be as the musick of the Sphears pure and coelestial As the waters of a spring and not as the waters of a pond which easily putrifieth Our joy then flowes and breaks out in this blessed duty of singing Psalms which is the only vent of inward complacency the heart being the chief musick-room of a Saint In the singing of Psalms we begin the service of heaven singing is the triumph of glory In heaven we read of the song of the Lamb the song of Moses Rev. 15. 3. All varieties in the Pallace of the great King sing songs to the Lord and to the Lamb who sits on the throne Rev. 5. 9 12 13. The twenty four Elders sing a new song as if they would out-vy and double the tribes of Israel as in their Psalmi sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quaecunque cantiones variâ—s argumentis scriptae Hymni sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae solummodò dei laudes continent Cantica seu Odae sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 peculiares magis artificiosae angustiore quadam formâ Daven number so in their praises to the God of Israel Rev. 5. 9. The Angels lift up their voice to sing the Psalms of heaven Rev. 5. 11. Those glorious spirits though they have no tongues yet they have voices to celebrate the praises of the Divine Majesty The Harpers likewise have a new song Rev. 14. 3. and joyn issue in the same harmony to evidence that heaven is a place of joy and triumph Now as no Ordinance better resembles the company of heaven then that of the Lords Supper where the Saints meet to feast with and on Christ So no Ordinance better resembles the harmony of heaven then the singing of Psalms when the Saints joyn in the praise of their Redeemer It is not without a Selah a note of observation that the Apostle is so copious in setting down the several wayes of the Saints praising God viz. In Psalms and Hymns and spirituall Songs Col. 3. 16. Is it not to prefigure that plenty and joy which is reserved for them when they shall always joyn in consort with the musick of the Bride-chamber David singing with his harp Psal 71. 22. here looks not so like the King of the Old as a Citizen of the New Jerusalem Rev. 14. 2. Singing of Psalms must be managed with prudential cautions In this heavenly duty the heart must be president of the Quire He playes the hypocrite who bids his harp awake when his heart is asleep Affection must be loudest Non vox sed votum non musica chordulâ— sed cor non clamans sed amans caniat in aure dei Aug. in every Psalm The Apostle saith That he will sing with the spirit 1 Cor. 14. 15. David tells us His heart was ready his heart was ready to sing and give praise Psal 57. 7 8. Psal 108. 1. The Virgin Mary sings her magnificat with her heart Luke 1. 46 47. Bernard in a Tract of his tells us When we sing Psalms let us take heed that we have the same De modo benè vivendi Bern. thing in our mind which we warble forth with our tongue and that our song and our tongue run not severall wayes Audiant illi quibus psallendi in ecclesiâ officium est deo non voce tantùm sed corde cantandum non in Tragaedorum modum Hieron Spiritual songs must not be as icâ—â—les which drop from the eves of our mouths but as sparks which fly from the hearths of our souls If there be only the calves of our lips it so much resembles a carnall and Jewish sacrifice Hierome tells us We must not act as players who stretch their throats and accomodate their tongues to the matter in hand but when we sing Psalms we must act as Saints praising God not only with our voice but with our hearts A sweet voice pleaseth men most but a melting heart pleaseth God most Non franges vocem sed frange voluntatem non servas tantùm consonantiâ—m vocum sed concordiam morum Bern. Thou studiest cadencies and to run divisions saith Bernard Study to break thy will and to keep under thy corrupt affections and do not so much affect a consonancy of voice as conformity of manners It is not a quavering voice but a trembling spirit Isa 66. 2. Augustine complains sadly of some in his time who minded more the tune then the truth which was sung more the manner how then the matter Aug. what and this was a great offence to him We must sing with grace in our hearts Col. 3. 16. Viz. Either as some expound it with gratitude and thankfulness Nâ—n incommodè cum cantionibus conjungitur gratitudo Daven Laetis prosperis rebus ad canendum monemur quo in statu affectus gratitudinis debitus est planè necessarius Dav. for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 grace is sometimes so taken 1 Cor. 15. 57. And indeed thankfulness is the Selah of this duty that which puts an accent upon the musick and sweetness of the voice we sing the thanksgivings of the Lord. In times of prosperity when God crowns us with his loving kindnesses
Psal 103. 4. We are then stirred up to sing forth the praises of God and every part of man makes up the Consort the eye looks up with joy the tongue sets the tune the hand claps with triumph Psal 47. 1. The heart is the Organist which sets all the rest on going that bosom instrument begins the songs of praise Secondly Bishop Davenant expounds with grace viz. with gracefulness with a gracefull dexterity which brings Et prodesse volunt delectare both profit and pleasure to the hearers When we sing Psalms we must sing seriously and solemnly not lightly or sensually to gratifie a curious ear or a wanton spirit Psalms they are not the Comedies of Venus or the jocular celebrations of a wanton Adonis but they are the spirituall ebullitions and breakings forth of a composed soul to the holy and incomprehensible Jehovah Therefore David Psal 96. 1. will sing a new song to the Lord Psal 96. 1. i. e. in the Hebrew dialect a most excellent song a song tuned with suavity composed with piety and warbled forth Psal 137. 4. with real sincerity Thirdly This phrase with grace may most properly signifie the acting of grace in that heavenly duty Not only our heart but Gods spirit must breath in this service in it we Cum in conspectu dei Cantus sit hoc considera in mente Bern. must act our joy our confidence our delight in the Lord. Singing is the triumph of a gracious soul his unconstrained exultation which is not penned up in the mind by meditation nor confined to the ear in attention nor yet chained to the tongue in prayer and supplication but flyes abroad in a more solemn Ovation praising him who causeth him to triumph in Christ as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 2. 14. In singing 2 Cor. 2. 14. of Psalms the gracious heart takes wing and mounts up to God to joyn with the celestial Quire We must sing with understanding We must not be guided by the tune but the words of the Psalm and must not so much mind the melody as the matter we must consider what we sing as well as how we sing The tune may affect Psal 47. 7. the fancy but it is the matter affects the heart David in 1 Cor. 14. 15. the Old Testament Psal 47. 7. And the Apostle in the Spiritum intelligentiam opponit Apostolus ut causam effectum docens psallendum esse spiritu ut non modò à psallentibus sed ab audientibus intelligatur Quia secus fructu illud totum carebit Par. in Cor. New 1 Cor. 14. 15. call for understanding in singing otherwise we make a noise but we do not sing a spirituall song and so this duty would be more the work of the Chorister then the Christian and we should be more delighted with an Anthem of the Musicians making then with a Psalm of the spirits enditing We must therefore sing wisely that not only our own hearts may be affected but those who hear us Alapide observes that the word understanding mentioned by the Apostle 1 Cor. 14. 15. it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Hebrew which signifies profound judgment and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Septuagint which signifies the acuteness of understanding the sharpness of it the mind of the understanding if there be any more spiritual and freed from the body And thus we must sing our Psalms and spiritual Psallite diligentèr ut nimirum vos intelligatis sapiatis ea quae psâ—llitis et alii qui vos audiunt ea quae vos psallitis intelligant Alap Prâ—ces Pontificiorum linguâ ignotâ non tam Oratio sunt quà m murmur songs A learned man observes We must rellish what we sing Now the understanding must lead the way to the taste and the gust Let me superadde one thing more The Apostle in the forementioned place 1 Cor. 14. 15. saith He will pray with the spirit and with understanding he will sing with the spirit and with understanding So then we must sing as we must pray Now the most rude and ignorant Petitioners will understand what they pray rather then they will Petition in the dark they will confine themselves to a form or to the Lords prayer None so ignorant as not to understand what they ask Unknown prayers are the soloecism of Religion they are only a vain muttering a troublesome noise Children know what to ask of their Parents and their minority doth not speak so Luke 18. 13. much ignorance as to wrap up their requests in a cloud Luke 11. 13. that they cannot understand their meaning It is well observed by a learned man That the prayers of the Papists in an unknown tongue are not so much a supplication as a murmur Now ignorance in singing falls under the same condemnation with ignorance in praying and is as great a soloecism when we understand not what we sing it speaks the harshness of the voice the hardness of the heart and the impertinency of the service We must sing to the Lord In singing of Psalms the direct intention of our minds must be to God And we must be Deo laudes et hymnos in gratiarum actionem canamus Ansel Psalmus est signifer pacis spirituale thymiama exercitium coelestium luxum reprimit sobrietatem suggerit et lacrymas movet Aug. affected as the matter of the Psalm is and our present condition doth occasion Singing is part of divine worship a piece of Gospel service The Apostles counsel is That in singing we should make melody in our hearts to the Lord Eph. 5. 19. And least we should omit this circumstance which is the substance of the whole duty the Apostle repeats his counsel Col. 3. 16. and adviseth us to sing with grace in our hearts to the Lord. A learned man observes That the right singing of Psalms is an evidence of the holy spirit inhabiting the heart and a spirit of joy breathing in the Saints And if the spirit of the Lord be in us he will be aimed at by us in all our duties The spirit will mount service upwards will Psal 7. 17. lift up the soul in prayer Psal 25. 1. Isa 37. 4. will lift Psal 30. 4. up the hands in request Psal 28. 2. will lift up the head Cantare in corde domino non vocem excludit sed cordis affectionem cum voce conjungendam monet Dav. with joy Psal 110. 7. And will lift up the voice to God in singing David saith Psal 111. 1. I will praise the Lord with my whole heart Deborah and Barak sing their triumphal song to the Lord Judge 5. 3. And the Psalmist calls the songs of Sion the songs of the Lord Psal 137. 3 4. Singing of Psalms properly is nothing else but the lifting up the voice and the heart to God One gravely tells us Our In eo rectè sentiebant qui hunc spiritualem cultum
qui nobis consecravit quietis diem Gualt be softest on that day when Gods mercy is sweetest Mans pitty is a good handmaid to wait on Gods bounty That day which is a day of life to us should be a day of love from us Charity on a Sabbath is like fire put to Juniper it turns it into a perfumed flame Now there is a four-fold Charity we must exercise on Gods holy day There is Charitas oeconomica Charity to our Families It is very observable that every clause in the 4th Commandement Manifestè praecipitur mandati verbis quieti sabbati rationem habendam esse servorum ancillarum quo quisque admonetur de assectu charitatis erga domesticos suos et insatiabilis avaritiae impetus restringitur Muscul Quo magis à dei dilectione recedimus eò magis à proximi distamus quantum verò dei â—haritati adhaeremus tantum et proximi et proximi deo conjungimur Biblioth Patr. is an injunction to Charity We must be tender to our servants they must not work we must be compassionate to our Children they must not toyl we must pity our beast that must not drudge we must have bowels to the stranger within the Gates he must rest and be refreshed so that we may say with the Apostle Rom. 13. 8. Love is the fulfilling of the Law The Command for the Sabbath is written in golden Letters of love and Charity The Lords day must be spent not in the sweats of labour but in the sweets of duty not in wearisome toyl but in holy rest Parental or despotical rigour is an open breach of this Command which breaths nothing but sweetness and indulgence The Sabbath is no day for the forge or the plow it was never set apart to waste our spirits but to mind and negotiate the affairs of our souls Bishop Andrews saith Mercy on a Sabbath is the sanctification of a Sabbath Surely those Governours of families do highly prophane the Sabbath where the maid-servant must toyl at the fire to provide for their luxury The man-servant must be no otherwise employed then to serve their company Children must wait and serve at the table to shew the grandure of the family where instead of singing Psalmes there is clattering of Dishes and instead of gathering Manna there is gathering up of fragments and instead of a composed lying at Christs feet Politicum illud est ut quâ—es concedi debeat iis qui subsunt alienae potestati Jer 17. 21 22. Psalm 105. 27. in holy Ordinances there is nothing but hurries noyse and confusion Here it might be expostulated Shall servants have no breathing for their souls no necessary pauses to mind eternity Is not this more then Aegyptian bondage Is not not this to cause our families to return back to the Land of Ham to their wonted captivity and thraldome Can such Governours disciple it after Christ and yet have no bowels Quae officia hic demandata etsi videantur levia et rusticae â—bi de pecore aberrante redâ—cendo et asino sublevando agitur non tamen nobis talia erunt si perpendamus finem legulatoris qui non tam animalium rationem habuit quà m hominum Riv. to the immortal souls of their inferiours Christ shed his blood for precious souls and these will not dispence with a humour with their pride with a feast with an entertainment for the good and advantage of a never dying soul But such cruelty and oppression saith Dr. bound is the scandal of Christianity and unravels all that mercy which is folded up in the fourth Commandement God in the Law commands us to pity and shew mercy to our enemies Oxe Exod. 23. 4. to an Oxe which is a beast to be fatted for the slaughter to our enemies Oxe whose enmity might damp our charity and yet here we must shew compassion How much more must the soul of a Child or a servant be precious to us Shall thy servants here lie among the pots and hereafter among the flames and wilt thou do nothing to prevent it Wilt thou not give them Sabbath room to sayl to Heaven in Surely this is the dregs of tyrannie Well then this piece of Charity we must shew upon a Lords day we must be tender to our families we must call them from all toyl and labour to wait on God in his sacred institutions In a word to despise our servants on a Sabbath so as to think they are onely fit to drudge here is an act of pride ond insolency Such remember not that Paul wrote an Epistle to Philemon for his servants sake and to employ our servants Philem. v 16. on a Sabbath and not regard what becomes of them hereafter is an act of inhumanity and such forget that the poor receive the Gospel Mat. 11. 5. The lame the maimed were brought to the Kings feast Luk. 14. 21. and the difficulty Mat. 10. 25. lies how the rich man shall get to heaven Luk. 18. 25. Nay Mat. 19. 24. Christ himself took upon him the form of a servant Phil. Mat. 16. 26. 2. 7. Thy servants soul is of an higher price then the world Mat. 11. 25. It is observed by a worthy man That in the fourth Commandement Rest is granted to those who have most need of it to the poor servant and the friendless stranger to shew that it is even a duty of nature to be pittiful and charitable to our families upon Gods holy day There is Charitas crumenae a charity of the Purse which Petit pauper suum pauculum temporarium Da et recipies magnum eternum Aug. we must likewise shew on the Sabbath Now we must find objects to be the Cisterns of our bounty we must here occurrere ut succurramus meet some whom we may minister to Augustine his rule is a golden Rule on this day The poor petitions a little of our temporals give it him thou shalt receive it in eternals But if we object our inability It is replyed It is not how much but out of how much God looks at The widdows two mites was a commended charity even by Christ himself But let this caution be minded Caution let us take heed in our giving that we do not take away on other dayes to give on this day rob the week to Recondet Christianus apud se cumulet auctumque deinceps et cuâ—â—â—latum deferat Sclat adorn the Sabbath this is pride not charity and the greatest portion is given to Satan But let our charity on the day of the Lord be according to the simplicity of the Gospel and so our charity may make our purse the lighter but it will make our Crown the heavier and what we have laid out in one world we have laid up in another In the Conseruntur eleemosinae sec discretionem unius cujusque propter egenorum subsidium aegrotorum et exulum solamen primitive times there were
saepiùs Christus in die Sabbati officia charitatis praestitit quà m aliis diebus Iren. dayes And let us in this imitate both our Priest and Pattern who died for us and must go before us and we taking up this practice weekly let us follow him Surely melting bowels do bear a symphony with mercifull Sabbaths On the first day of the week the day of our Sabbath God created Gen. 1. 2 the world out of a chaos of confusion Christ restored the Mark 16. 2. World from sin and destruction and on the same first day Acts 2. 3. of the week the holy spirit enlightned the world in falling down solemnly upon the Apostles and redeemed the Church from Judaical misapprehension And shall these glorious works which have put such a bright emphasis upon the Christian Sabbath not soften our bowels to pity the groans of the sick the sights of the prisoner and comfort those who are in trouble and dejection On this day the spark Buc. in Mat. 12. 11. of our love should turn into a flame the drops of compassion should swell into a stream Bucer makes the visitation of the Luke 10. 33. sick to be a principal duty of our Sabbath On which day Infundit vinum et oleum Samaritanus vinum denotat legem oleum gratiam Evangelii Sacramenta sunt quasi alligamenta quibus labia vulnerum alligantur Chemnit Christians should turn good Samaritans they should drop tears into those wounds they cannot drop Oyl into and pour in the wine of consolation if they have no other to offer as a sacrifice of mercy Bleeding hearts become a blessed Sabbath One well observes It doth behove us as occasion is offered to spend some time of a Sabbath in visiting the sick because this will fill our minds with holy meditations and fill our mouths with heavenly discourses and fill our hearts with serious apprehensions of death and judgement which will shortly encounter us and there is no avoiding the stroke of the one or the Bar of the other There is Charitas spiritualis spiritual Charity which is Verbis exprimi non potest quantum homo qui ad imagirem dei conditus est et pro quo unigenitur dei filius proprium suum sanguinem fudit quem denique sp sanctus per verbum Evangelii ad communionem filiorum dei vocavit et sanctificavit irrationalibus et brutis animalibus praestet Lys most apposite to the Lords day One well argues If our mercy on a Sabbath must extend to the Oxe and the Ass Luk. 13. 15. much more to man who is Gods Vice-Roy upon Earth bears his own image and is enriched with that nature which Christ himself took upon him and if in outward things we must minister to him viz. man much more in spirituals and heavenly by how much the soul transcends the body and the wants of the soul are more dangerous and for the most part less felt then those of the body and therefore to succour them is more necessary and less dispensable Surely this is the highest mercy to pull men out of the pit of despair out of the mire of prophaneness out of the dungeon of ignorance to unfetter chained sinners to consolate and advice distressed souls It is observable our Saviour did not only heal the poor woman of her bodily infirmity on the Sabbath but delivered her from the chains of Satan with which she had so long been held Luke 13. 16. It is our great work on a Sabbath to shew mercy to distressed souls On the Lords day Christ rose for our justification Rom. 8. 34. which was a spiritual benefit not for supply but for our justification not for the encrasie of our bodies but for the rescue of our souls And the Apostle notes it with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yea rather in the Text forementioned And in soul advantage every Christian may have a share they may have soft bowels who have not full purses every one may give savoury counsel put up ardent prayers labour to set home convictions nay enter into heavenly discourses and so endeavour to draw those who go astray to the Sheepfold of the Great Shepherd of their souls Every one may 1 Pet. 2. 25. bleed over sinful revolters and as St. John who ran after 1 Pet. 5. 4. the young man when he was extravagant in his practice they may run weeping after straying transgressours This willing mind as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 8. 12. may lodge 1 Thes 5. 14. in the breast of the meanest person there may be zeal in the heart when there are rags on the back and when their apparrel is more contemptible then John the Baptist's leathern girdle and Camels hair Mat. 3. 4. And that which enforces this duty is 1. The excellency of the work To instruct to admonish comfort and pray for Brethren is the greatest mercy the softest pity nay even the work of Christ himself who shed not only his tears but his blood to ransome immortal souls how did Christ grieve for a hard heart weep over an unbelieving City and lay down his life for poor lost sinners To Mark 3. 5. rescue poor perishing souls is a heavenly work and well Luke 19. 42. is becoming a heavenly Sabbath Mat. 18. 11. 2. The reward of the Service Not a tear we drop over a wandering sinner but will turn into a pearl The Apostle speaks expresly Jam. 5. 19. Brethren if any of you have erred from the truth and one hath converted him let him know that he hath converted a sinner from going out of his way he shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins This text it seems informs us of a double reward Rom. 10. 14. 1. The salvation of a soul the purchase of Christ himself 1 Tim. 4. 16. souls were the gains of his victories Isa 53. 11. The Redemption of souls was the reward of all his sufferings Luke 22. 32. 2. Here is the covering a multitude of sins which onely Heb. 12 15 16. speaks blessedness Psal 32. 1 2. And it may likewise be inferred from this text of Scripture That God hath made us Heb. 3. 13. Guardians one of another Acts of spiritual charity belong to the care of all Christians God hath not onely set conscience to watch over the inward man but hath set us to watch over the outward conversation one of another We must exhort one another while it is to day Heb. 3. 13. especially Luke 24. 17. while the light of Sabbaths continues to us When the two Disciples were travelling to Emmaus Christ joyns with them this blessed Physician came to comfort to satisfie and to inform them they were poor distracted timorous persons and these he visits Christ will not leave them in a maze and intricated with inexplicable apprehensions but he will bring them home to the knowledge of the truth and this is Christs
then let not a Sermon satisfie without Christ in a Sermon let not reading a Chapter content without we read Christ in that Chapter As once Bernard despised that Book wherein he did not read Christ And let us alwayes remember that Ordinances they are the institutions of God and he that made a brazen Serpent heal Num. 21. 9. can make his own institutions effect our cure Object But the poor souls greatest Query is How shall I meet with God in Ordinances who shall open the door into the Gallery where I may be with my Beloved Answ In answer to this something we have to do as well as something to enjoy Our pain must go before our pleasure we must not be wanting to meet God if we expect that God should meet us Therefore We must be earnest in Prayer we must cry out O send out thy light and thy truth let them lead me let them bring me to thy holy Hill to thy Tabernacle then will I go unto the Altar of God unto God my exceeding joy Psalm 43. 3 4. We must make our addresses to God if we look for his approaches to us God sends a Preacher to a praying Paul God Acts 9. 11. sends an Angel to a praying Daniel God comes himself to Dan. 9. 21. a praying Solomon Prayer is an humble summons for the 1 Kings 2. 3. divine appearance it can not onely tie Gods hands Exod. Acts 10. 2 3. 32. 10. and command returns Isa 45. 10. But it can obtain Gods presence If Moses say I pray thee God presently Jam. 4. 8. replies My presence shalt go with thee Exod. 33. 13 14. If thou wilt have God meet thee in Ordinances let thy prayers be thy Harbingers to prepare room for him Be serious in preparing for Ordinances The Sun scatters the Clouds before it shines in its brightness The Bride dresseth her self to meet her Bridegroom And thou must Isa 61. 10. compose thy self with awful apprehensions Sponsa â—rnata representat ecclesiam ornamentis gratiae fortitulinis decoratam immò animam sanctam gratiis spiritu adaptatam et si debilis et imperfecta Haymo 1. Of the Divine Majesty with whom thou art to converse 2. With the solemness of Gods Ordinance thou art now going to enjoy 3. With the sweetness and advantage of the season thou art now entring upon and then God will meet thy prepared soul Joseph trimmed himself and then he goes into Pharaoh's presence The Wise man adviseth us â— keep our foot when we go into the house of God Eccles 5. 1. VVe should do well in our applications to holy Ordinances to examine our selves whether we are fit with loose thoughts to meet with a dreadful Majesty Or with filthy hearts to meet with a holy God Or with worldly and drossy minds to meet with Grn. 41. 14. our heavenly Father Let us not complain God retires when we are not fit for his presence Let us then capacitate our selves by holy care and serious preparation to enjoy God in Ordinances Let us long for Gods presence God loves affectionate Proselytes A longing David shall see a loving God Psal 63. 1 2. The Spouse is restless after her Beloved and then she meets him Cant. 3. 1 2 3 4. The thirsting soul shall be fed Fames est illa melior sanctior quae est spiritualis jam in Christo habebit saturitatem invita aeternâ omnimodam satietatem ubi deus erit omnia in omnibus Chemn with milk and wine Isa 55. 1. Grace and Righteousness shall satisfie the bungry Mat. 5. 6. The Psalmist follows hard after God Psalm 63. 8. God meets with our pursuits we shall then satisfie our selves in God when nothing but God can satisfie us Cold suitors shall not meet with Christ in his espousals VVhen the Wife longs the Husband endeavours after the thing longed for Mary Magdalen bemoaned the taking away of her Lord John 20. 2. We may expect to meet with God when his absence is our greatest moan and his presence our sweetest musique Let us come to Ordinances with all reverential humility God will look at him who is of a poor and a contrite spirit Humilitas est via ad deum Aug. and trembles at his Word Isa 66. 2. God dwells in the humble heart Isa 51. 15. God will raise those who debase themselves Augustin tells us That humility is the ready way Super quem requieseit Sp. sanctus nisi super humilem super humilem non super virginem Bern. to God It is the usher who brings the soul into the presence Chamber Bernard notably observes That the spirit of God rested on the Virgin Mary not for her Virginity but for her Humility And if Mary had not been so low in her own eyes she had not been so lovely in Gods Alapide saith Humility is a throne of Saphire where God sits in Majesty Let Humilitas est thronus Sappharinus in quo deus cum Majestate resideâ— Alap us then come to Ordinances with a submissive spirit God will cast an eye upon the soul who lies at his feet He sent an Angel to Daniel when he lay in his ashes Dan. 9. 3. 21. God rewarâ— the very counterfeit humility of Ahab 1 Kings 21. 29. though his sackcloath was but as Samuels mantle the attire of hypocrisie A dread of Gods presence brings Prov. 16. 19. a sweet sence of it and a trembling at the Word of God goes Prov. 29. 23. before a triumphing in the enjoyment of God Job abhorred himself in dust and ashes Job 42. 6. and then God hears him for himself and his friends and gives him interest upon interest for all his sufferings and tribulation Job 42. 10. A holy God will meet with an humble Saint Let us endeavour to be in the spirit upon the Lords day Direct 9. The extasies of the Apostle John were on the Lords day Revel 1. 10. the rapture was accomodated to the season Christians should study to be above themselves upon Gods holy day then they should walk in Galleries above the world Hierome professes That he sometimes found things so with himself that it seemed to him as if he had been triumphing Hieron de Virginit servand among Troops of Angels and singing hallelujahs with the Saints in Heaven and walking arm in arm with Jesus Christ And Luther reports of himself That sometimes especially on a Sacrament day the death of Christ was so full and fresh upon Luth. his spirit as if then he had been upon Mount Calvary and as if that was the day in which the Lord dyed And Beleevers should be so in the spirit upon the Sabbath as if that was the very day wherein Christ broke the bars of the Grave rowled away the stone from the Sepulchre and enfranchised himself from the restraints of the tomb The Saints should be carried out on this day and make their sallies into the suburbs of
we are contracted as a ship becalmed the Spirit fills our sails which is that VVind which bloweth where it listeth John 3. 8. Spiritus sanctus postulat i. e. postulare et gemere facit est hebraismus quo kal ponitur pro Hiphil Ansel When we are sad and dejected the Spirit consolates and chears us and flushes us with that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1. 8. Oftentimes we cannot lanch forth in a duty the Spirit then helps us off from the sands Many times we are dull in hearing and then the Spirit opens the heart Acts 16. 14. and makes us vigorous and attentive And when we are at a loss in Prayer the Spirit puts life into our dead duty and makes us groan a sign of Sex modis in orando erratur primò si bonum temporale petimus animae nociturum Secundò si à malo aliquo quod prosit nobis liberari oremus Tertiò siquid petamus ex ambitione ut filii Zebedaei petebant primus in regno Christi quartò si quid petamus ex zelo indiscreto ut filii Zebedaei optabant ignem de caelo manasse in Sâ—maritanos Christum respuentes quinto si petatur ardentius quod utilius est differri sextò si petamus statum nobis incongruum life and furnisheth us with suitable petitions to accost and lay siege to the throne of Grace And when we are weak and stagger in a holy duty the Spirit takes us by the hand and sets us with fresh strength to finish our service the Spirit corrects all our errours in holy duties A learned man observes there are six great errours in Prayer 1. When we petition some temporal good to the disadvantage of the soul 2. When we earnestly desire the removal of some affliction which conduceth much to the good of the soul 3. When we ask something out of ambition as the sons of Zebedee that they might have a primâ—cy in the Kingdome of Christ 4. When we petition any thing out of an indiscrete zeal as the sons of Zebedee requested fire from Heaven to consume the Samaritans who would not entertain Christ Luke 9. 54. 5. When we are earnest for that which it was better it was delayed that by this delay our prayers may be more importunate and our perseverance may be more fully discovered 6. When we beg that state of life in this World which God sees inconvenient for us Now the Spirit correct all these errours and is the Censor of our miscarriage in duty He maketh us more wise more humble more heavenly more self-resigning more patient in duty The guidances of the Spirit are the Pole-star to direct us in every Ordinance and holy service The Spirit is our advocate within us John 14. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Greek which fits us with holy pleas to sue with when we address our selves to God and carries out the heart to urge its case with greater earnestness with great weight and authority The Spirit is the President of our duties to guide the soul that it write fair without blot In a word The Spirit helpeth our infirmities in duty Not a good Angel as Lyra Not a spiritual man a Minister as Chrysostome Not spiritual Grace as Ambrose Not Charity as Chrysost tract in Joan. Augustine But it is the Holy Ghost as Pareus And this blessed Spirit helpeth us as the Nurse helpeth a little Child holding it by the â—â—â—eve As the old man is stayed by his staffe or rather â—â—â—peth together as that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8. 26. seems to imply being a Metaphor taken from one who is to lift a great weight and being too weak another claspeth hands with him and helps him So the Spirit is ready to relieve us in all our spiritual duties The holy Spirit succeeds and prospers our holy duties It makes our duties prevalent with God God attends when we sing in the spirit God hears when we pray in the spirit Ephes 2 18. as the Apostle speaketh 1 Cor. 14. 15. VVhen this Dove moanes within us Rom. 8. 26. God understands the groans of his own Spirit and will give seasonable answers God Donum et efficacia orationis non in verbis sed in gemitâ— desiderio affectu et suspiriis ignitis consistit Alap gives his Spirit to assist in these duties which he fore-determines to accept Man speaketh words in prayer but the Spirit raises groans Alapide observes God is not so pleased with locution as affection in that holy duty not so much with expressions as inexpressible sighs which are as incense in his acceptation As the smoak of that Cloud a sign of Gods smile and favour Isa 4. 5. A duty spirited by the Holy Ghost shall never fail an expected end for God knows the mind of his Spirit as the Syriack reads it Rom. 8. 27. As the Mother knows the groanes and cries of her tender Child and presently runs to help it and to give it what it wants and cries for The Spirit is our intercessour within us as Christ is our intercessour above us whose pleas shall 1 John 2. 1 2. not meet with a denial The Spirit moving upon the waters Gen. 1. 2. produced a World and brought forth living Creatures The Spirit moving upon the Word the dispensations of the Gospel causes the New Creation and makes living Christians O then when we come under the Word and are in the midst of the waters of the Sanctuary let us wait for the good spirit of the Lord Other Birds drive away but let the Dove come in Pareus observes Suspiria perturbata semper exaudiuntur Primó Quid sunt suspiria spiritus Secundò Quia semper spiritus interpellat juxta placitum et voluntatem dei Pat. that the groans of the Spirit within us shall not vanish into ayr and that upon a double account 1. Because the Spirit comes from God John 15. 26. and is his Commissioner in a gracious soul and he will not deny his Leiger in a Saint 2. The Spirit always intercedes according to the good will and pleasure of the Lord And pleasing petitions shall not meet with a repulse what suits with the heart of God shall open the hand of God Congruous desires shall be conquering desires The Spirit makes duties effectual to us That Prayer which is animated by the Spirit shall not onely gain upon Gods heart but melt ours If the Spirit open our heart in hearing we shall attend to the Word and savingly entertain it When Christ by the Spirit opened the understanding of the Acts 16. 14. two Disciples Luke 24. 45. then they dived into Gospel mysteries and understood fully what was fulfilled concerning the death of the Messiah When the Spirit brings home a Sermon he makes it fire to burn up the dross of the soul Jer. 5. 14. he makes it a hammer to break the hardness of the soul Jer. 23. 29. he makes it
men defile not enjoy an Ordinance John 17. 21. They are spots not guests in that holy Feast It is onely the spiritual man is fit for converse with God Princes converse not with Beggars nor God with sinners Christ in his incarnation tabernacled with the Sons of men John 1. 14. But in his communion he converses with the Sons of God he gives his people the meeting Mat. 18. 20. The Sun shines upon the stars and they reflect its light with a glittering rebound Christ when he arose again gave not the meeting to the world but to his Disciples Luke 24. 36. And so in his blessed fellowship he visits not the formalist but the Saint Christ in his ordinances influences his living Eph. 1. 22 2â— members not glass eyes the speculative Atheist not painted faces the varnished hypocrite not ' wooden legs with the silken stocking upon them the spruce and self-deceiving moralist who with Agag are ready to depose the bitterness 1 Sam. 15 32. of death is over We must be on the Lords day in grace actual On the Sabbath the soul is to be set on work in acting several graces and some seem to be of a different nature As faith and fear heavenliness of mind and humbleness of heart repentings for sin and relyings on God tremblings of the soul and restings on Christ a real longing for promised mercies and yet a quiet staying for those mercies promise by hope expecting good things to come and yet by faith possessing those things at present This embroydery of grace must be on the heart of Lam. 3. 26 a Saint upon the Sabbath One of the Ancients compares Greg. Mor. l. 19. sect 30. holy men upon Earth unto those holy Angels of Heaven Rev. 4. 8. that are said to be full of eyes within and without In the week the Saints must use their eyes without Psal 77. 6. looking after their necessary callings and their occasions in Hos 6. 3. the world but upon the Sabbath they more solemnly set Ex cognitione dei omnia utriusque tabulae officia tanquam ex fonte promanant et eatenus placent quatenus illam praelucentem habent Riv. on work their eyes within looking inward upon the estate of their souls knowledge must open its eyes and repentance must drop its tears every grace must be in ure and exercise Indeed the Sabbath is the proper season for the acting of our several graces working as Bees in a Hive making honey of every ordinance Sorrow and confession must begin faith and prayer must carry on and holy thanksgiving must conclude the duties of a Sabbath Our hearing the Word must be introduced by holy appetite and desire we must long to be in the Courts of God It must be entertained Psal 84. 2. Luke 8. 1. Heb. 4. 2. Mat. 13. 19. by faith and affection it must be improved by zeal and an holy conversation our lives must be comments on Gods sacred truths and so all other ordinances of the Sabbath must be the sphears for our graces to move in as stars in their Phil. 1. 27. Orbs and this is to be in the spirit on the Lords day Let us study to be in the comforts of the spirit upon the Lords day The joyes of the Holy Ghost are the musick of heaven below the hearts rapture paradise in the bosome the sweet earnest of future blessedness they are the ecchoes of assurance and the reverberations of a good God and a good Conscience Spiritual comforts hath many springs but all most pleasing and complacential They are the comforts of God 2 Cor. 1. 3. who is a fountain above us The Father of mercies leaves a seed of joy in the soul They are the comforts of the Holy Ghost Acts 9. 31. who is a blessed spring within us John 7. 37. shedding those grateful streams of peace and joy which drench the soul with unspeakable delight They are the comforts of the Scriptures Rom. 15. 4. which are as sweet Gardens without us every promise being Consolatio omnis nititur promissionibus gratuitâ— Dav. as a sweet rose every truth being as a flower of the Sun and every threatning being as wholesome worm-wood in this salvifical garden They are the comforts of the Saints Col. 4. 11. which are as lights about us for our more comfortable passages to Sancti nos solantur invisendo condolendo necessitatibus nostris administrando et miserrimas nostras conditiones sublevando Dav. our rest and happiness Communion of Saints being not only an article of our Creed but an helper of our joy in our travels to Canaan But to return to the comforts of the spirit Gods people may find soul-refreshing comforts in Christ the Lord upon his own day and the measure of their comforts may mount their souls so high as to make them like Moses upon Mount Pisgah viewing Canaan the heavenly Canaan flowing with that which is better then milk and honey the soul of a sincere Isa 51. 12. 2 Cor. 1. 4. Luke 2. 29. Isa 56. 7. Christian may swim in a sea of sweet delight he whose heart hath been as a boat which could not be got up all the week because of low water yet may be brought up in an high spring tide of spiritual comfort upon the Lords day being ready to say with Old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace Luke 2. 29. the soul may be so Psal 94. 19. Isa 57. 18. filled with joy upon Gods holy day in his house of prayer that he may be ambitious of his eternal Requiem in the bosome of Christ Nay upon the Lords day a believer being in the spirit the worst evils may amplifie his best comforts to think of sin remitted hell removed death vanquished devil Gen. 42. 38. conquered all these make for him that he may go down with Jud. 14. 14. joy and triumph to the grave Out of every eater comes meat the upper and the neither springs run all into the Josh 15. 19. same stream of comfort to the Saints Every thing on a Sabbath is an occasion of spiritual joy to them If they look up Isa 29. 19. to God they will joy in the Lord Rom. 5. 11. If they consider Isa 35. 2. the season of a Sabbath that is the time nay the term Isa 52. 9. time for the soul which is matter of joy nay as the joy of harvest Isa 9. 3. If they glance at the word they receive the word with joy Luke 8. 13. If they act their graces this is with joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1. 8. It was a brave speech of a Martyr to his cruel tormentors Work your will upon my weak body as for my soul it is in heaven already and over that Caesar hath no power So it may be the case of a Christian upon a Sabbath he may be as in heaven beginning his triumphal hallelujahs It is no
wonder then Intus est in corde est Sabbatum nostrum Aug. if St. Augustine cry out Our Sabbath is within in our hearts There indeed is the musical spring of joy Let us take heed of grieving the spirit Eph. 4. 30. No fountain casts out sweet and bitter water a grieved spirit will not dash joyes upon the soul the mournful Dove flies Offenditur spiritus verbis putidis etiam quo vis peccato Hier. away We must cherish the graces if we will possess the joyes of the spirit The birds sing most sweetly in the spring when every thing is fresh and green Gods spirit in the soul yields its freshest delights among flourishing graces when the Peccata sunt injuriae contumeliae spquae eum contristantur Alap seared boughs of corruption are broken down Sin and vanity break the strings of the spirits musick and chase away the Comforter from our coasts as birds hushed away leave the place of their present abode Let us not suspend our answer to the spirits excitations Let us listen to every motion and apply our selves to every counsel of this inward Monitor Slighted advocates plead no more we must hearken to every whisper of the Holy Ghost who first commands and then comforts To stir up to holy duties to good works to circumspect walking is the office of the spirit but to ravish the soul with divine delights is the reward of the spirit Observe holy David Psal 94. 19. In the multitude of my thoughts thy comforts delight my soul He was now acting the duty of meditation and then the spirit besprinkled him with dews of joy A Deus per essentiem est totus consolatio immò Mare Oceanus consolationis quem in servos suos etiam in hac vitâ effundit learned man saith God is an Ocean of consolation Let not our sin and disobedience be such banks and ramparts that this Sea cannot overflow us with complacential effusions Obedience indeed and duty make way for the streams of spirituall comfort And to our case let us keep the Sabbath circumspectly and we shall keep it comfortably Let us follow the spirit in every duty obey the dictates of the spirit in every Ordinance When the spirit prompts us to prayer let us tune our hearts to that duty and not fold our hands in sloth and negligence when the spirit suggests to Prov. 6. 10. us the import of an Ordinance let us not be slight and careless in that holy institution and let us consider the motions Prov. 24. 33. of the spirit go before the melodies of the spirit And thirdly Let us study to be in the spirit on the Lords day This duty must Look downwards we must avoid whatsoever opposeth the spirit whatsoever may quench that celestial flame 1 Thes 5. 19 We must on the Sabbath lay aside all temporal cares Cares at all times are thorns Mat. 13. 22. But on a Sabbath they are thorns in a flame not only scratching but scorching Indeed the Lords day is not without its cares but they are heavenly not worldly cares care to please the spirit not to please the flesh care to lay up treasures in heaven not to fill our coffers below The soul then must be Divina benedictio Sabbati est quâ sibi deus studia occupationes asserit Calv. cared for how to prepare it for duty how to pacifie it with pardon how to beautifie it with grace how to fit it for eternity Head and heart must be at work on the Sabbath but it must be for the soul not for the outward man But to set our servants on work in our callings to be in our counting Mat. 16. 26. house to contrive business for the following week on Gods holy day this is not only to defile the Sabbath but to affront providence as if God who takes care for the Lillies of the field Mat. 6. 30. could not provide for the strict observers of his holy day We must throw away all worldly thoughts How many are there whose thoughts are as fresh and affections as vigorous towards the world upon the Sabbath day as if they were trading in their shops walking in the Exchange or Exod. 8. 24. posting their Books and pursuing their bargains I may say to such as the Lord to Satan Zach. 3. 2. The Lord rebuke Plaga muscarum fuit foedo colluvies quae fuit numerosa et molestissima immò et nocentissima et ideo molestissima quia numerosissima Riv. thee what is this but to turn time into a chaos where there is no distinction between light and darkness between the Egypt of the week and the Goshen of the Sabbath This day is a day of light life and salvation and shall worldly thoughts that judgment of lice or flies stain and ecclipse it Worldly imaginations on this day they are the sacriledge of the mind the worm at the root of duty the souls destructive avocation the Shibboleth of a covetous man the bluster and gross miscarriage of a Christian they are the souls imprisonment when it should be enlarged in the way of Gods Ordinances We must take heed of unnecessary diversions The heart is wholly to be set on God on his own day One observes The Law is spiritual and so is the fourth Commandment and is not fully obeyed by outward conformity but it requires the Rom. 7. 14. inward truth and bent of the heart Happily we shut up Psal 51. 6. our shops on a Sabbath so the Law of the Land commands but do we shut up our hearts on a Sabbath that nothing unseemly may intrude Do we bring our hearts and Christ together and lock them both in that nothing may interrupt their sweet and mutual intercourse It is a vain thing to dissemble with God on his own day He can unriddle and will judge our splendid and varnished artifices Let us not play the hypocrites but walk in the spirit the whole stage of Rom. 8. 2. the Sabbath To keep our doors close is an empty ceremony unless we keep our hearts close to God and Christ in Ordinances in Family and secret duties Diverting imaginations are the cobwebs of the mind the sores which In dic Sabbati ab omnibus aliis curis et studiis omninò obstinendum est Gual fester the heart as Dalilah her smiles did Samson and so entangle the soul that it cannot enjoy its freedom with Christ on his own blessed day Such divertisements disturb the Musick of Ordinances and eat out the profit of holy Communion with God if we will be working on a Sabbath Let us work out our salvation with fear and trembling Augustine Phil. 2. 12 13. Aug. de temp Serm. 251. speaks most excellently in one of his Sermons That we may be fit and ready for Gods service on his own day there must be nothing to cumber us and we at that time must cast off the interposition of worldly
sollicitude And so Calvin presses That on this day every man ought to withdraw himself wholly to God-ward to mind him and his works that we may be provoked to serve and honour him The Sabbath is Gods freehold and all impertinencies whither foolish thoughts 2 Tim. 2. 4. vain discourse or unbecoming actions if they enter upon it they are trespassers In a word we must be in the spirit not in the flesh or the deeds of the flesh upon Gods holy and blessed day Dir. 10 We must be very watchful on Gods holy day This is a day on which we must be on our guard Christians on other dayes are Souldiers but on this day they must be sentinels 2 Tim. 2. 4. The Sanctuary more especially is our Court of guard Christ speaks to us now as once he did to his Disciples Can Mark 14. 37. ye not watch with me one day Our Sabbaths are always besieged with enemies both within us and without us and when the enemy is on the walls nothing more necessary then a strict watch Let us watch our hearts It is a fond piece of hypocrisie to watch our words and our actions on a Sabbath and in the Hic sc ad cor noctâ—rnas et diurnas excubias colloâ—emus Cartw. mean time give scope and liberty to our wandring hearts to take its circuits and ranges A flatulent and a gadding heart is a great disturbance upon a Lords day a man can neither pray nor hear nor meditate but he is troubled and disquieted It is the counsel of the Wise man to keep our hearts with all diligence we must set double guards Prov. 4. 23. upon them The heart in it self is a wandring Dinah and will be slipping away to vanity it is ready to fall into the snare Corde nihil est fugacius Bern therefore we must watch it warily and check it speedily and over-awe it with the apprehension of Gods all-seeing eye It is observable that the Lord Jesus appeared to his Rev. 1 14. servant John upon his own day in a heart searching similitude His eyes were as a flaming fire not only burning in jealousie against sin and sinners but bright and shining as the searcher of hearts and tryer of reins And we should do well to consider that on the Lords day more especially our heart lies under the view of that fiery flaming eye of Christ and he is the judge of all secrets Rom. 2. 16. And this should stop and bound our Quick-silver hearts Let the terrour of the last day work upon our hearts on the Lords day The seat of the judge is fitly resembled by a cloud not a throne of silver or gold but a cloud now as we know the clouds are store houses of refreshing showers so also of storms and tempests and thus doubtless the day of the Lord will be a day of refreshing to some of terrour and amazement to others and a great part of the tempest of that day will fall upon the hearts of men God will have us accountable for ranging thoughts and sinful desires which are aggravated and receive a double dye upon a Sabbath Indeed on this day one of our great works is to chain and fasten the heart to God a loose heart then only runs up and down and doth mischief it makes great waste and is as the Prodigal in his worst fits We must watch against Satan The old Serpent who deluded our first Parents is the great adversary of the Sabbath which was the first institution the evil one strives to Gen. 3. 1 2 3. cloud the rising Sun the early day of divine worship set apart by God from the worlds infancy It was the policy of Pompey Vespasian and Titus most sorely to assault Jerusalem on the Sabbath day Upon the Sabbath day are the Devils Die Sabbati non licet pomum ad carbonem admovere ut assetur Nec allium quod edere velit decorticare saltantem pulicem capere Arborem non licet ascende re ne ramum frangas Munst ex Rabbin most desperate designs He is ever bad but worst on the best dayes we must look for a harming Devil on a helping day Let us trace the evil one all along and we shall easily discern his malice against the blessed Sabbath First Satan stirs up the Jews to clog the Sabbath with superstition Ridiculous were the assertions of that Nation concerning Sabbath observances As it is not lawful to put an apple to roast on the Sabbath day or to peel a head of garlick or to take a flea leaping upon the body or to climb a tree least we break a bough on that day c. Vanities more foolish as Gerard observes then the Sicilian scomms or toys After by the instigations of Satan a persecution is raised against the Church which lasted some Centuries of years beginning in the time Beati martyres in judicium vocati à Proconsule interrogati sunt num Dominicum servasti Cui respondebant se Christianos esse et Dominicum congruâ religionis devotione celebrasse quia intermitti non potest Baron of Nero And then Dominicum servasti c. Hast thou kept the Lords day was one of those ensuaring questions which brought many Christians to the crown of Martyrdom In succeeding ages the great artifice of Satan hath been to debauch the world into a contempt of the Lords day which is notably set down by worthy Dr. Hackwell in these words After ages much degenerating from the simplicity of the Primitive times they so infinitely multiplyed holy days beyond all measure and reason that the Lords day began to be sleighted which no doubt is an especial occasion of that thick cloud of superstition which over-shadowed the face of the Church In these last dayes Satan hath been a perverting spirit in the mouths of the Prophets some decrying the strictness of the Sabbath as rigorous and Judaical others confining holiness 2 Chr. 18. 22. only to the publick worship leaving the people afterwards to the ranges of their own corrupt fancy to bowl to wrestle c. and to follow any exercise which may suit with corrupt nature others shake the foundation of the Lords day as if that blessed day was only the issue of a prudential Canon of the Church but what this Church was where the Council was held who the president and what the Members of it we could never yet learn or understand but yet some clamorously avouch the Lords day is bottomed only upon Ecclesiastical Authority And then if the Azor. institut Moral ps secunda l. 1. c. 2. Sabbath lie at the pleasure of the Clergy as one worthily observes Covetous men who are about their Farms and their Oxen will easily set at naught a humane Ordinance and prophane persons will hardly be whistled into publick or private duties for a device of men but will give themselves free leave for doing or neglecting if there be nothing found in Scripture
to bind conscience Others have raised the Jewish Sabbath out of the grave of Christ to walk as a Ghost up and down the world when the Lords day hath for more then sixteen hundred years been its peaceable successor And thus Satan hath every way endeavoured to invalidate the power and ecclipse the glory of the blessed Lords day the holy observation of which he is the greatest enemy of And to this day this Apollyon and Abaddon a destroyer in any language attempts Rev. 12. 9. nothing more industriously then to draw men into a sluggish and sinful frame either to idle away Sabbaths or to spend them profusely in riot and prophaness How many proud persons waste the Sabbath at a Glass or dressing box How many intemperate persons drown their Sabbath Eph. 5. 18. 1 Pet. 4. 3. in luxuries and excess and are fill'd with wine instead of the holy spirit How many are catched at the bait of a Procul abjiciamus impura carnis opera et insanum voluptuandi studium Wal. mad eagerness after pleasure and delight as Walaeus calls it But let us watch against all these wiles and depths of Satan And indeed we should double our guards for there is not an Ordinance but Satan attempts to evacuate and make it a barren womb and a dry brest to the soul If Joshua stand before the Lord Satan will be at his right hand Zach. Rev. 2. 24. 3. 1. He cursedly â—nvies all our converses with God and would raise a cloud and thick darkness to hinder the transmissions of divine love Now he cannot beat life out of the Ordinance prayer will be a prevailing duty maugre Satans malice and therefore he would beat love out of us he would take us off by his snares and enticements either he would disturb us by his temptations or charm us by his perswasions or disengage us from holy and close communion with God by his flatteries and insinuations This Serpent for his subtilty and Lion for his cruelty will like Tertullus Gen. 3. 1. 1 Pe. 5. 8. Luke 22. 31. to Paul Acts 24. 5. attempt us most forcibly when we are pleading the cause of our souls in holy Ordinances on Gods holy day If the Sons of God present themselves before the Lord Satan comes among them Job 1. 6. If we attend in hearing the word the wicked one comes and is Mark 4. 15. ready to catch away the seed which is sown in the heart Mat. 13. 19. Satan enters Judas at the Passeouer John 13. 1 Thes 2. 18. 27. and some Divines assert at the Sacramental Supper How often doth Satan raise noise and disturbance to divert our thoughts and damp our desires when we are engaged in holy prayer that so our distractions may sower and disaffect our most melting devotions And therefore let us cast our selves upon this threefold experiment Let us Petition the Lord to fetter and chain up this roaring Lion so to muzzle him that he may be a Lion without a paw and a Serpent without a sting God cannot only tread Satan non deponit Odium sed vertit ingenium et cruentas inimicitias ad quietas convertit insidias Leo. Satan under his own but under our feet Rom. 16. 20. He can pinion Satan with a check and a rebuke Zach. 3. 2. He can chase him away with the prohibition of a word Mat. 4. 10. He that can bind Satan for a thousand years Rev. 22. can shackle him for a few Sabbaths Satan is a cruel but a conquered enemy Heb. 2. 14. He is a wolf in a chain Now prayer cannot only obtain the good spirit but Apostolus ait Deus conteret satanam sub pedibus nostris ut indicet infirmitotem nostram et salutem can restrain and bind up the evil one and bridle both his injections and disturbances and if thou prayest that thy enemy strike not Christ will pray that thy faith fail not Luke 22. 32. to shield off the fiery darts of the Devil Eph. 6. 16. And to stand against the wiles of the evil one Eph. 6. 11. Brayer can exercise the evil spirit fasting and prayer can Acts 26. 18. 2 Cor. 2. 11. cast Satan out of our bodies Mark 9. 29. much more out of our duties Resist the Devil It is the Apostles counsel 1 Pet. 5. 9. and the benefit will be He will fly from thee Now this Satan vetus hostis est cum quo praeliam gerimus sex mille annorum complentur ex quo hominem Diabolus oppugnat omni genere tentandi et artes atque insidias deficiendi usu ipso vetustatis addidicit Par ex Cypr. lib. de Exhort Martyr ad Fortunat resistence must be made by resting upon Christ by faith so taking in Christ as our second in the encounter and being fixed in holy resolution as the Apostle hints in the fore-cited Text. It is true as Paraeus observes out of Cyprian Satan is an old and experienced enemy but the shield of faith can secure us and the sword of the spirit can subdue him Christ put him to flight with a Scriptum est It is written Satan only batters yielding combats The bird is easily caught which flies into the snare His fiercest stroks are avoided by repulse We best resist him when we will not admit him into parley Let us remember he is the God of this world and so cannot interpose for hurt in spirituals unless we give him the advantage If he be a Prince it is of the Air 2 Eph. 2. And so by his own power cannot endamage us in things heavenly and divine He never conquers but when we let fall the weapons We never lose but give away the Victory and his insultation is the reward of our pusillanimity Let us not tempt the tempter by a frothy and slight spirit Indeed corrupt hearts are his territories and claim Satan maketh his greatest rapes on wandring and light spirits he Gen. 34. 1 2. is Beelzebub a God of flies who buzzes about vain dispositions Psal 108. 1. with his troublesome assaults and therefore on Gods Luke 11. 15. blessed day let us say with the Psalmist our heart is fixed Psal 57. 7. our heart is fixed Psal 57. 7. If our hearts are centerd in God we are above the attachments of the evil one Foolish men usually meet Satans temptations but being immured in Ordinances and onely minding Christ in our devotions this common enemy chained at Christs Cross as Origen speaks will leave us as he did our Master and dear Redeemer Mat. 4. 11. We must watch our Corruptions they are never so violent in their sallies as on Gods own day Pride will go in the most garish dress on the Sabbath and many happily will study more to bring a new fashion then a new heart into the Congregation Vlcerous consciences on this day will quarrel with divine truth or at least with the messengers of it Corrupt wounds will not endure the
lanching nor scornfull sinners the reproof Our hearts are never so treacherous as Jer. 17. 9. on this day then they are prodigal of time sluggards in Homines sunt fallaces et insidiosi et putant deâ—m ipsum posse decipi et illi meros fumos obsiciunt Calv. duty enemies to the faithfull preaching of the Word then they poure out their swarms of vam and impertinent thoughts and catch at any diversion to give them breath from close communion with God and then slight and formal Christians wind up the clock of the tongue and that strikes nothing but vanity Indeed naturally there is an open opposition in our hearts to strict religion and particularly to the precise observation of Gods day and this opposition like rivers which are damm'd up breaks forth then most violently As we know Snakes will get into the greenest grass and Spiders into the fairest houses so our corruptions beset us most and besiege us most closely in holy duties and the most spiritual converses and therefore let us most strictly eye these Serpents in the bosome observe their first motions Venienti occurrite morbo and strangle them in their birth Young twigs are easily plucked up weeds when low they onely soften the walk but when grown higher they deform and unbeautifie the garden Let us let out the water of the first blisters of corruption If thou art proud then say did Christ come out of a Grave this day and shall I come out as a Bridegroome out of a Bride Chamber If thou art worldly say Christ Isa 61. 10. Joel 2. 16. rose this day in order to his ascention to heaven and shall sublunary vanities entangle my soul this day If thou art sluggish and unactive say the Sun of righteousness rose this Mal. 4. 2. day whose motion of all motions is the swiftest and shall I be clogged with unseemly dulness and hebetude If thou art sad and despondent say Christ rose this day to fill up the joyes of his people to consummate and finish his victories 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cantus fuit Christiano rum sibimetipsis ocâ—urrentium in primordâ—â— Ecclesiae which by holy faith become the Saints conquest and shall my spirit be down and sink on this triumphant day If thy heart wander this day say the glorious Morning Star this day appeared in the worlds Horizon after a three dayes cloud and what more blessed object to fix my heart upon Rev. 22. 16. That still the risings of thy corrupt heart which way soever it wind it self may be kept down and stopt from Sabbath defilement Now a little care may prevent a great deal of sin We must therefore 1. Eye and observe 2. Bitterly bemoan 3. Pray against 4. Forcibly check and keep down these unnatural productions of the unregenerate part and suppressed corruptions Exod. 14 30. are like slain Aegyptians they will not disturb the Israelites travelling towards Canaan So they will be the spectacle of our joy not the obstacle of our duties and we may with a Psal 119. 32. pleasing liberty run the wayes of Gods Commandments upon his own holy day CHAP. XXXVIII Some necessary cautions for the preventing of Sabbath Pollution Caut. 1 FOr the more holy observation of Gods blessed day some rocks are to be avoided as well as some rules to be observed The carefull Mariner studies to escape the sands that he be not swallowed up as well as observes the wind that he be not becalmed and so put upon unnecessary stayes in the watery element So there are difficulties to run through as well as duties to discharge on Gods holy day and therefore Care is as necessary as Zeal and a watchfull eye as requisite as an affectionate heart we must equally take care that we do not offend as that we do obtain Let us take heed of wearisomness in duties It is very sad when the Sabbath is lookt on as our burden and not our priviledge and our attendance upon Ordinances our task and not our triumph our bondage and not our blessedness Surely religious duties should not be our fetters but our freedome This was the black character of the wanton Israelites they cryed out When will the New Moon be gone that we may sell Corn and the Sabbath be over that we may set forth Wheat Amos 8. 5. What should weary us on a Sabbath Is it because on that day Christ carries the soul into his Wine Cellar Malus fructus immò malus morsus quo Adam per Evam vitam perdidit Bonus fructus quo genus humanum per Christi mortem mortem perdidit et vitam invenit Del. Rio. and his banner over it is love Cant. 2. 4. Is it because Christ on this day brings his living waters and his best wine and makes his feast of fat things and gives his sweetest bread Do the delicacies of a Sabbath cloy us Do the rarities of it nauseate us How shall we digest heaven where such dainties sublimated shall be our eternal fare What hearts have we that we can petrifie Gods Ordinances and make them empty and unsatisfying that they shall yield no taste or nourishment Surely it must needs be the reproach of a Christian to grow weary of Communion with God and to surfet on the provisions of the Sanctuary Indeed to be cloyed at our tables is more usual then sinfull but shall we rise from the table of Christ without an appetite Shall we say of the bread which came from heaven is there nothing but this Manna Upon the Sabbath John 6. 55. Christ takes the soul as once the Eunuch did Philip into Numb 11. 6. the chariot of his Ordmances with him and there discourses of the affairs of eternity and shall this familiarity tire the soul Acts 8. 21. which is posting to eternity The Sabbath is the souls jubilee a mellifluous and blessed season how many thousands souls have known it the day of their new birth And how willing have Gods people been in this day of Gods power in Psal 110. 3. the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning Blessed is this day among dayes from henceforth all generations Luke 1. 48. shall call thee happy blessed be the Father which made thee blessed be the Son who purchased thee blessed be the Spirit who sanctifies thee and blessed are they who prize and improve thee and think the Sun on this day posts away too fast and makes too much hast towards a setting Indeed it must argue very little holiness if the blessing of the Sabbath be accounted the burden of the Soul and it must speak the dregs of corrupt nature to tire upon Mountains of Spices to be weary of walking in the Garden where the Rose of Sharon is David saith Psal 119. 24 77. The testimonies of God are his delight and he rejoyced more in them Cant. 2. 1. then in all manner of riches and yet truly some covetous
not drinking things luke-warme nor walking measured paces not rejoycing in dances c. And Chrysostom urges with much holy fervency That on the Sabbath we should lay aside all the affairs of this life and withdraw our selves from them and spend all the leisure of the Sabbath in things spiritual and divine which concern our souls This eminent Person makes a difference between sloth and rest the one concerns the body the other the soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Tom 5 p 225. and he clearly states the Question that the Sabbath was never given us to please a piece of clay but to serve the interest of that piece of eternity which every one of us carry in our own bosoms And on this manner Augustine courts his Auditors We must know dearly beloved That it is therefore August appointed of our holy Fathers and commanded to us Christians that upon the Lords day we should rest that reposing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concil Load Can 29. from all worldly business we might be more fresh and prompt for Gods divine worship and may with more ease attend upon the will and service of God Nay a whole council viz. of Laodicea in the twenty ninth Canon hath these words It doth not become Christians to Judaize and to be idle on the Sabbaths This was the spirit and temper of the Primitive times they press that our Sabbaths might be spiritualized not that our work should wholly cease but only should be changed that the labour of the hand should be turned into the working of the heart that manual operations should be turned into mental contemplations and on this day our work must not be servile but seraphical we must not throw away the Pen but we must write the fairer In the middle times of the Church when such dark Thom. Aquin. 22dae quaest 122. 4 3. 11. 3 dist Art 15 Quest 1. clouds had over-spread it that spiritual worship was as Saul among the Prophets rare to a Proverb yet then the employing of the time of a Sabbath in holy service was accounted morall in the fourth Commandments and scoffs were bestowed freely by the writers of those times on those who wasted the Sabbath in plays or idleness This bright Alex de Alens p. 3. quaest 32. Scol l. 2 de instit qu 4. Artic. 4. truth like a star in the night made its way to shine in the darkest times The fine spun disputes of the Schoolmen could not distinguish it away but it brake through all their curious webs This truth was so fastned in the Church it could not be disputed out by the School And let Semper eadem not only be Queen Elizabeths Motto but the Sabbaths holy observation In the dawning of Reformation there was light enough to discover this truth many eminent Divines those burning and shining lights which blaze more because they are nearer to us give in their suffrage for spending the Sabbath in holy exercises sharply decrying Hinc colligimus deum non de re nihili aut flâ—cci loqui cùm sanctificationem Sabbati nobis commendâ—verit Calv. sluggishness and sloth on this blessed day It is the grave observation of incomparable Calvin That God speaks not of a small matter when he commands the sanctification of the Sabbath but doth exhort us to a diligent marking of it and our want of care to mark is a breach of this Commandment This worthy man could not imagine that a Memento should Preface a day of sloth and idleness that we might take our carnal ease without such an alarm To walk in the fields to sit idling at the door of our house to chat in a room upon a Sabbath are no such importances as to require such diligent attention or exact observation there is little holiness in any thing of this A carnal man may rest from labour and never much mind or need a command Nature will let us to take our case without any special command from the God of nature The great Jehovah had never needed in the midst of thundrings and lightnings with great Exod 10. 18. terrour and Majesty to give out a command for us to go to a Bench to sit on to a couch to talk on or to a bed to lie on A School-master need not make a set speech or tune his language to strains of Oratory to perswade his Scholars to go to play and be idle Idleness needs no great enforcements wants no arguments of reason nor paintings of Rhetorick we can prate of worldly affairs and take our pleasing pastimes without any attractive engine Zanchy speaks very pregnantly to this purpose I call saith he this dayes rest Zanch. de oper creat p. 3. l. 1. c. 1. divine and holy because as God is never idle so he would have us take rest in soul and conscience after that manner that yet notwithstanding we be alwayes employed in those things which are of Gods spirit and which appertain to the glory of God and to the good both of our selves and others The cause of commanding rest upon the Sabbath was not for rest sake and that man might be idle but that he might altogether spend that whole day in divine worship Thus this Reverend Person Sed ut toto illo die possint vacare cultui divino Zanc. in quartum praecept rightly stateâ— the Question and truly asserts that as rest is included in the Commandment so holy and spiritual worship is the end of that rest God calls us off from Earth to mind Heaven and the body must have a vacation that the soul may have a Term the body must decrease that the soul may increase Corporal rest is only the means by Non igitur cum Ethnicis sentiendum festos dtes tantúm quietâ—s remissionis causa suscipi quorum finis â—sset recoâ—datio beneficiorum dei in convocatione sancta c. which we may pursue our eternal rest This learned Rivet looks upon it as a brutish and heathenish Opinion to think that God should give us a holy day for sloth and remisness and he positively tells us That the end of the Sabbath must be the recordation of divine benefits and to refresh our memories with most grateful rehearsals of Gods bounty and to put up prayers for future grace for the leisure of Saints must not be fruitless The eccho of this golden sentence is true and sweet A godly mans leisure must not run waste When the world gives him a short quietus est he must rest in God His spare hours from his outward affairs must be his serious hours for his soul The Saints have alwayes work to do on this side eternity but especially on that day when rest is commanded us to look after eternity Hospinian here accents Finis tertius est Sabbati ejusque otii ille est subliâ—â—or Vt vir spirituaâ—is ad aeternam sui saluteâ— propior accedat ut vitae sanctae â—fficiâ—â— occupetur
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
may graciously smile and lift up the light of his countenance upon thee Moaning Ephraims are pleasant Children Meditate on Gods works Thou mayest see the glory of a Creation through a prison grate or within the curtains of a sick bed thou mayest contemplate on the Sun when thou doest not see it that emblem of Gods power and the worlds glory The Stars shine as bright to meditation in the day as in the night and we may take an intellectual when we do not take an ocular view of them Meditate on the state of the Church to rejoyce in it or to grieve at it The Jews in Babylon could weep savourily in the remembrance of Sion when they did consider its present Psal 137. 1 2. calamity and its former glory Every Christian should Psal 122. 6. be of a publick spirit and lay the case of Sion to heart either for tears or triumphs When nothing of the Church is Isa 62. 6 7. in thy eye much of it should be in thy thoughts Much of Psal 137. 5. piety is discovered in sympathy It was one of Israels great offences they had not a fellow-feeling of the afflictions of Amos 6. 6. Joseph The Prophet adviseth those who make mention of the Name of the Lord to give him no rest till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth Isa 62. 6 7. When thou art alone on a Sabbath and thy condition necessitates thee to it let the many thoughts of Sion keep thee company and be thy congregation to joyn with Meditate on the attributes of God Those glorious beams can shine into the darkest and most solitary dungeon as well as into the most solemn assembly Think of Gods power in creating a world his justice in burning of a Sodom his wisdome in contriving a way for mans redemption his love in John 3. 16. sending his Son to dye for sinners his faithfulness in making and keeping his Covenant Such heavenly meditations might sweeten a prison might mitigate a distemper might alleviate Psal 104. 34. the severity of service or slavery and might comfort thy soul on Gods blessed day in the greatest recluse and solitariness Spend some time of this solitary Sabbath in conversing with the Scriptures The Bible is the most delightful companion Rom. 3. 2. Omnia mea mecâ—m porto Bias. in the want of all others the Saint with these Oracles may say with the Philosopher I carry all my estate with me Caesar so prized his Commentaries that being enforced by the Egyptian Army to leap into the Sea he did swim with one hand and held up the Book of his Commentaries in the other his life and his book should both perish together Our Bible is the most seraphick Commentary upon Gods love and Josh 1. 8. mans heart God commanded Joshua to meditate day and night in this sacred volume Indeed the Scriptures they are a hive of sweetness to delight the soul a choice treasure Psal 19. 10. to enrich the soul more then necessary food to support the Job 23. 12. soul The sword of the spirit to defend the soul a transcendent Eph. 6. 15 17. Paradise to consolate and refresh the soul Every truth in the Scriptures is brighter then a star every promise Rom. 13. 12. in the Scriptures is richer then a Mine every threatning in Heb. 4. 12. the Scriptures is sharper then a sword every offer of grace contained in the Scriptures is more valuable then a world therefore in thy lonely Sabbaths say with the Psalmist O how I love thy Law It is my meditation all the day Psal Facit Scriptura consolationes per exempla quae narrat per promissiones praemia quae offert His nos consolatur inspem beatitudinis excitat erigit 119. 97. And this converse with sacred writ will be a good prognostick of success and happiness It is reported of Queen Elizabeth that in her great afflictions in her sister Queen Maries reign she was much conversant in the holy word and as the word of God sweetned her soul so the Providence of God smiled on her condition for after the flight of a very few years she wore the Diadem of this Nation flourished many years in the throne of her Royal Progenitours Fill up this solitary Sabbath with the Collection of former experiences David when he was kept waking in the night Psal 77. 3. he remembred God his thoughts were taken up with that In concilio Parisiensi hoc facinus Patribus dolori fuit quòd licet dies dominicus à quibusdam dominis venerando custodiri vide batur a servis tamen eorum servitio pressis per rarò debito honoâ—e â—â—li invenâ—râ—tur divine object When thou art kept from the solemn assemblies by a sick bed or a close prison or a sharp Master Remember thy experiences which thou hadst of old 1. All thy providential mercies as the Psalmist recounts his promotion that God took him from a sheepfold to a throne and at such a time advanced him to the Soveraignty of the best people in the world Psal 78. 70 71. Then remember thou the additions God hath made to thy Estate or to thy Family thy escapes from imminent dangers thy often deliverances c. Experiences of divine love receive new life from meditation and serious recollection 2. All thy seasonable mercies The Psalmist comfortably Concil â—aris relates That when his Father and his mother forsâ—â—k him Dâ—o sunt quae sâ—ntertiae gratâ—â—m dignitâ—tâ— coâ—ciâ—iant 〈…〉 si 〈…〉 ad 〈…〉 rationâ—m accommodetur Cartw. then God did take him up Psal 27. 10. Then the rare providences of God are most rare and remarkable and to be noted with an Higgaion Selah As words so favours in season are like apples of Gold in pictures of Silver Prov. 25. 11. The season is the emphasis of every mercy Even at the red Sea Psal 106. 7. This amplified Israels sin they offended even at the red Sea where they were crowned with a stupendious and seasonable deliverance Cast thy eye back in thy solitary Sabbaths upon those mercies which were eminent for their season Health after sickness supply in wants rescue from temptations from sinful or destructive company when thy soul was pluckt out of the snare Ah how sweet was water to a thirsty Samson deliverance to the poor Jews when their destruction was signed and sealed Such pleasing recollections would abundantly sweeten a solitary Sabbath 3. Thy unexpected mercies those loving-kindnesses which thou didst not think of nor pray for which thy want did not proclaim nor thy moans pursue An Angel cometh Acts 10 3. Luke 1. 26 27. to Cornelius in his prayers when he looked not for him Happily many mercies have befallen thee which like Gabriel to the Virgin Mary have brought not onely good but unexpected news On a solitary Sabbath view over thy unlookt for mercies which were returns of love without a
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
the Sabbath to be Originally destinated to worship Thom. Aquin. and divine service It is the observation of Zanchy That Vt sanctifiâ—es i. e. â—t sanctum et feriatum habeas ab opere servili cessando Ger. Jesus Christ on that day when first the Sabbath was instituted did take an humane shape and conversed with Adam and did instruct him in most holy Colloquies and so was busied that whole day with our Parents This was the apprehension of that worthy person who was not much subject Primùm deus sanctificavit diem scptimum Quia sacra ordinatione eam segregavit ab aliis et sibi suoque cultui illam appropriavis to fancies or enthusiasmes The blessing of the Sabbath saith reverend Calvin was nothing else but a solemn consecration whereby God claims to himself the studies and employments of men on the seventh day whether the last or the first of the week First God rested and then he blessed this rest or he dedicated every seventh day to holy rest and thus expounded is this text by the most famous writers of our own and forraign Nations thus Zuinglius Junius and Tremelius Vrsinus Piscator Paraeus Danaeus Bullinger Aretius Chemnitius Hospinianus Bertramus c. expound this text and besides these mentioned there are many Neque enim Sabbatum per Mosen primò est institutum caelitus exhibito Decalogo sed religio Sabbati recepta fuit à sanctis Patribus Zepper worthy Divines of our own Nation give the same interpretation Thus Willet Bownd Greenham Gibbons Perkins Babington Dod Scharpy Williams c. Paraeus well observes the word sanctifie signifies four things in Scripture 1. To make that holy which was impure and propharie and so the Saints are sanctified by the blessed spirit of grace 2. To set apart any thing from a common to a sacred use So God sanctified the Priest the first fruits the tabernacle and the utensils of it Levit. 27. 8. 3. To celebrate that as holy which is holy in it self so Prima requies fuit Sabbati qua deus Gen. 2. 3. in honorem et memoriam creationis suae et quietis jussit homines quiescere ab omnibus operibus die septimo Alap we sanctifie Gods name when in prayer we address our selves unto him and proclaim the glory of it 4. To sanctifie signifies to be vacant for holy employments and so we are commanded to sanctifie the Sabbath to be at leisure for divine affairs At first saith Paraeus God sanctified the seventh day viz. By an holy Ordination he set apart this day and appropriated it to his own worship and as a day of rest to the Lord and this Ordination implies a command which is moral and binds all men And that no other exposition can be fastned on this text is further evidenced Verisimile est observationem sabbati apud Patres in usu fuisse sicut et sacrificiorum à primordiis mundi Riv. in Exod. from this that the Lord in the promulgation of the fourth Commandment upon Mount Sinai fetcheth this text of Scripture as comprising the Original of the Sabbath laying the ground of his precept to keep it holy upon this his institution repeated in Exod. 20. 11. And it is observable that to bless a day is no where spoken of in the whole Bible but here in this text and in Exod. 20. 11. And as the latter text Exod. 20. 11. is supported by so it is an interpreter of the former viz. Gen. 2. 3. And God in the solemn promulgation of the fourth Commandment doth there as Moses doth here Gen. 2. 3. couple the same things together and so confirms the truth of Moses his narration So then in the text of institution Gen. 2. 3. we have four things considerable 1. Here is a Sabbath made 2. Here is Gods own example for mans imitation and so Benedixit deus diei septimo ut in ipso homines quiescerent et cultui divino vacarent Pet. Mar. it is Exod. 20. 11. Gods example is for resting on the Sabbath 3. Here are the words of institution in that he saith he blessed it he sanctified it i. e. he ordained it to be a holy Sabbath he dedicated it to his own service 4. Moses confirms it with a reason therefore it is the Lords institution and to be kept holy of us because then God rested from all his work which he made Nothing can be more obvious or plain did not the unhappy wit of some men cast a cloud to darken and veil it Peter Martyr Rabbi Agnon among others give us a full explication of this text so that many beams may proclaim the Sun God blessed the seventh day This blessing God gave to it that it should only be employed in Divine worship Rabbi Agnon saith That God blessed the seventh day i. e. he passeth a blessing upon the due observers of it which could not be unless there was an institution of the Sabbath for Obedience requires a command and blessing is the usual fruit of obedience And most probable it is that the Sabbath was ordained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theod. in the state of innocency though whether it was ordained before the fall or presently after the fall is all one to my purpose for it did well agree with a state of innocency for Adam to be an imitator of God resting upon the Sabbath as proportionating himself to that admirable pattern and example and besides Adam was to work six dayes though his labour was delightsome not toilsome in imitation of God and therefore to rest the seventh day because God did so And though Adam toiled not his body with pain and sweat before the fall yet intent he was upon his business whilst he did labour and six dayes were destinated to his labour but on the seventh day his body was altogether freed from all labour and his mind from attending to it and so the whole man set apart for an holy rest to the Lord which well befitted him And though on other dayes Adam served God yet neither the dayes nor he on those dayes were immediately consecrated to God as this day was and held also for holy duties and to attend upon God more immediately who in that happy estate did unquestionably appear unto him And Adams perfection and knowledge his holiness and uprightness his innocency of life and rare accomplishments did all furnish him with matter of contemplation and made Cùm Adamus diversae naturae negotiis eodem tempore non potuerit convenientèr vacare Aratione non est alienum illi statum tempus ad utrumque ommodè perficiendum a deo suisse assignatum Quo posset libere hortum Edenis colere et dei cultum publicum solenniter celebrare him bold to present himself before God upon that day in a more special manner And indeed a blessed and sanctified day very well accorded with a blessed and sanctified an estate and so no jarring or disagreement
the Worlds beginning long before the sacred Decalogue Tertul. lib. 4. adversus Judaeos was oracularly delivered upon Mount Sinai And the forementioned Philo so eminent among the Jews that he was sent in an Embassie to the Roman Caesar in the behalf of his Country-men And therefore there is a Book of his intituled Legatio ad Caesarem His Embassie to Caesar I say Philo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this eminent person calls the Sabbath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thing known to all Nations from the beginning of the World and Nostrum jus inquit omnes admonet officii Barbaros Graecos Continentis insularum Incolas Occidentales Orientales Europaeos Asiaticos c. dilating upon the honour of the Sabbath saith The Barbarians as the Jews call'd all the World besides themselves Graecians both of the Continent and the Islands both Eastern and Western both of Europe and of Asia nay all the habitable World to the utmost extent of it are Admirers of our Priviledge for who doth not honour that holy day which returns at the winding up of every Week And a learned man notes That it was the general Doctrine of the Jews That Adam kept the Sabbath-day and that that holy day derived its Original from the beginning of times Josephus the most learned Josephus Judaeus litteratâ—ssimus agnoscit deum septimâ requievissâ— ab operibus cessasse atquâ— eo nomine Judaeos hanc diem quam sabbatum appellant vacationem ad cultum divinum celebrare Joseph lib. 2. Historian among the Jewish Nation saith expresly That God rested on the seventh day and ceased from the works of Creation and upon that account the Jews keep that day they call the Sabbath a vacation to the Worship of God Thus Rabbi Jonathas and the whole Sanedrim of the Jews Gods ancient and select people give their free concurrence to this truth So that none of the Jewish Doctors seem to dissent excepting Maimonides as Truth will have some always to oppose it And this Augustine takes notice of and accounts it as the general opinion of the Jews which never was blasted with the heats of difference and contention and it is pregnantly animadverted by a learned man That though August tract 20. in Joan. Solom Jarchi in Gen. 26. Rabbi Simson in Isa 58. Rabbi Kimchi Manasseh Een Israel in Deut. 5. Aben Ezra in Exod. 20. Septem praecepta Noachi enumerantur in Schindlero in Radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the observation of the Sabbath was none of the seven Precepts of Noah yet in as much as the Lord gives command and express charge That the streangers within the gate should observe the Sabbath Exod. 20. 10. It seems it was comprehended under one of them and some think it was comprehended under that which was Intituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Birchath Hashem i. e. The Worship of no other God but the Creatour of Heaven and Earth And the famous Mr. Joseph Mede gives us this reason That the observation of the seventh day was the badge of those who worshipped the Creatour of Heaven and Earth According to that The Sabbath is a sign between me and you that I am Jehovah your God Because in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day Thus it is clear by the Opinion and Observation of the Jews that the Sabbath was in force among the Patriarchs not only after but before the Flood for undoubtedly they worshipped the Lord God Creatour of Heaven and Earth As for the Fathers among them there were few Dissenters Sabbatum primum est qâ—od ab initio de câ—etum est ac dictum à domino in creatione mundi c. â—piphan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanas de Sab. Chrysoss in Homil. 16. in Gen. they generally concluded the Sabbath to be from the beginning of the World Epiphanius speaks expresly The first Sabbath is that which the Lord from the beginning ordained and pronounced in the Creation of the World This learned Author whilest he is beating down Errour and Heresies by his learned Labours forgets not to establish this great and weighty Truth of the Sabbaths Original Athanasius in his Comment upon Matth. 11. 27. distinguisheth between the Sabbath-day and the Lords-day affirming the Sabbath to be the end of the first Creation and the Lords-day to be the beginning of the second Creation Beda solemnly professeth That the Rest of the seventh day after six days working was always wont to be celebrated And if always then before the Children of Israel's coming forth out of Egypt before Abraham before the Flood even from the beginning of the days of Adam the first of men And Chrysostom is most clear and full in this point New even from the beginning saith he God insinuates this Doctrine to us teaching that in the circle of the week one entire day is to be segregated and set apart for spiritual operation Many of Clem. Alex. the most glorious Stars of the Primitive Church give in abundant Theodor. light to this truth August Epist 86 in Epist ad Casulan Sabbati usus fuit apud veteres prius quà m apud Hebraeos increbuit Aug. Septenarius numerus à conditione mundi authoritatâ—m obtinuit quoniam in sex diebus opera dei complet a sunt ut septima consecrata quieti quasi sancta solennitate vacationis honorata à spiritu sanctificatore attitulata Cyp Christus legem adimplevit dum ipsum Sabbati diem benedictioneâ— Patris à primordio sanctum benefactione suâ sanctio em effect There are only three or four who are looked upon as dissenting Votes but upon a meer mistake as the Learned observe they speaking only of observing the Sabbath after the Jewish manner which was not before the Law was given on Mount Sinai they speak not against Sabbath-observation before the Law but against the observation of it ceremonially after the manner of the Jews in their double Sacrifices Meat-offerings Drink-offerings c. Numb 28. 9 10. Augustine in many places of his Works acknowledgeth that the Sabbath was observed among the Ancients before it grew so common among the Hebrews and he avers that the Sabbath was before Moses and afterwards it came into the Church of the Jews What more plain And whose testimony bears more sway in the Church of Christ than that of the incomparable Augustine whose Person and Learning was little less than a Miracle Cyprian saith That God sanctified the seventh day after his six days works and this day is honoured with a solemn Rest and Vacation and is intituled holy by the sanctified Spirit And to the same purpose Laciantius nay Tertullian who is often suppoenaed as a Witness to both parties in this Controversie yet speaketh most expresly Christ fulfilled the Law saith he whilest he makes the Sabbath more celebrious and holy by his own benefaction which was consecrated from the beginning
by the Father's benediction The before-mentioned Lactantius tells us The Sabbath took its rise not from the History of Manna but from Gods resting on the Sabbath-day after the finishing of the six days works Theodoret most elegantly observes That least the seventh day should want its honour nothing Tertul. contr Marcion lib. 4. cap. 12. Septimo die deus nihil facit sed hunc diem benedictione honoravit being created thereon God set it apart to be a Sabbath a day of holy Rest And indeed Gods chief work on the Sabbath is forming the new Creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. not creating the Man but the Saint not springing man out of the dust of the Earth but raising him out of the Theodor. quaest 43. in Exod. dregs of sin That he may be his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works Eph. 2. 10. Eph. 4. 24. On the holy Sabbath the works of God are works of grace not of nature and he doth not multiply but beautifie the Creation God doth not create on it new species and kinds of Creatures but new hearts and new spirits The Schoolmen who lived in the Iron Age of the Church Estius in lib. 3. Sentent Dist 37. Sylvestranus Richardus de mediâ villâ Alex. Alens part 3. quaest 39. fol. 128 Benedixit sanctificavit deus diem septimum i. e sanctum celebrem esse voluit Sanctificavit i e. consecravit Caeteros dies operum exercitio deputans il lum suo cultui emancipavit Hugo Card. Sabbatum est dies requiei i. e. vacationis ad deum Alex. Alens and rose at Midnight yet by their dark-Lanthorn they could see this truth they generally refer the Institution of the Sabbath to the beginning of the World and fairly conclude That Gods blessing and sanctifying the Seventh day was its consecration to be a day of holy Rest and a future Sabbath Alexander Hales saith positively That the Sabbath was observed of the Fathers before the Law Hugo Cardinalis truly asserts That the other six days God deputes to the affairs of the world but the seventh day he hath ordained for his own worship and this was originated from Gods sanctifying the seventh day in the primitive Institution The Schoolmen generally say God sanctified the seventh day Gen. 2. 3. and this is no more then his separating of it to holy purposes for his own more solemn and immediate worship Gerson the famous Chancellor of Paris speaks even the same words with Hugo Cardinalis and as the Schoolmen of the middle times of the Church heartily assented to this truth so those of latter times agree in the same opinion Suarez saith It is most probable that the Sabbath was from the beginning and so propagated by tradition to posterity For we must know that the Church in the first times of the world was immured in Famiâ—ies and most easie it was for one Family to hand down to another those Solemnities which God enjoyned them and more especially the blessed Sabbath wherein those pious Ancestors were to enjoy more solemn and sweet communion with their glorious Jehovah To frequent Gods worship is most adaequate to natural reason saith the above-mentioned Suarez Surely this great truth of the Sabbaths origination must gain much credit from the School-mens attestation when they were Similiter est naturali rationi consentaneum ut dei cultus frequentèr exerceatur ideò temporis determinatio est ex morali ratione Suarez too prone to dispute every thing and to make the most evidential truths problematical The Schools were ever for pro and con to question every the most sacred truth which passed by they would bandy those Scriptural assertions which carryed most light with them and subject those things which were most taken for granted to their discussion and ventilation But to close this particular with a good rule of the Schools viz. To dedicate some time to the service of God this is natural to dedicate the seventh part Filiut Mor. Quaest Tom. 2 in tertium Praeceptum Bannes secunda secundae Quaest 44. Art 1. of the week to the service of God this is moral but to sanctfie this weekly Sabbath as we should this is supernatural the spirit of God teacheth us to sanctifie the Sabbath this is only from grace In the midst of all their Sceptiscims this is a most worthy speech And as for our modern Divines who stood upon Giants shoulders and therefore had a fairer Prospect of divine Covarruv Resol l. 4. c. 19. truth They generally assert the Sabbaths original from the beginning of the world Luther who led the Van of the great Ministers of Reformation plainly asserts That if Ambros Cathar enar in Gen 2. toto dejust jure l. 2. Quaest 3. Cultus est à naturâ modus a lege virtus est a gratiâ Scholast Adam had never fell yet he should have kept holy the seventh day as a Sabbath to the Lord and should have transmitted the knowledge of this day which was to be spent in divine worship Other dayes Adam was to till the ground to look to the Beasts of the field but this day to converse with God and this day saith Luther Adam kept solemnly after the fall and a testimony of this are the sacrifices of Cain and Abel therefore the Sabbath was designed to the worship of God from the beginning of the world What more full more clear Si Adam in innocentiâ stetisset tamen habuisset sacrum diem septimum eo die decrevisset posteros de voluntate cultu dei laudasset deum et gratias egisseâ— obâ—uâ—â—sset aliis diebus coluisset agrum pecora curasset Immò post lapsum habuit diem illum septimum sacrum Luther in Genes more plain Zuinglius agreeing with Luther saith roundly That the Sabbath was ordained from the beginning of the world and took its first rise from the close of the Creation This blessed man who lost his life in defence of the Protestant cause sealed this with other truths with his precious bloud Calvin saith expresly That God rested on the seventh day and then blessed it that this day might be through all ages dedicated to rest not to idleness but to holy rest that our minds might be freer for boly contemplation on God the great Creator of heaven and earth For God saith he is no way pleased with empty leisure that man should do nothing but with a necessary vacation for converse with himself And Reverend Beza who was so rare in sacred Criticks gives us in his judgment acquiescing in this truth and plainly tells us That the seventh day stood from the Creation of the world unto the Resurrection of Christ when the seventh day Sabbath was turned into the first day Sabbath by the holy Apostles Zuingl com in Exod. 20. So that now we cannot say of the Sabbath as is said of the River Nilus that its fountain head cannot be known when
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
burnt offering and indeed what information could they receive from the slaying of a sacrifice Let not them O Christians who groped in the dark keep better Sabbaths then we who live in the Sun-shine Our means being greater our light brighter our Gospel beams stronger let our services on Gods blessed day be more sublime and accurate And it is observable our light sprung upon our Sabbath to bear stronger Maâ— 16. 2. Mat. 28. 1. witness against all deeds of darkness on that day O let us then pity the Jews incapacities and testifie to all the Natitions we live under the Gospel of Christ because we are so strict upon his own day As we are endowed with more knowledge so we are embraced with more love then the Jews were The love of God to mankind was never so fully revealed as in these latter times Heb. 3. 2. John 3. 16. And hereupon undoubtedly it is that our Saviour Prophetâ— docuerunt ut Prophetae i. e. ut homines futura de Christo et ecclesiâ dei praenunciantes et praevidentes obsâ—ura Jam verò in lege novâ Christus filius dei qui clarè vidit et penetravit omnem Patris sapientiam non docet sicut membra corpori et sic Prophetae Christo cedant professeth That from the time of John the Baptist the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent taketh it by force Mat. 11. 12. To such an height of devotion hath the love of God manifested in his Son inflamed his true Servants Indeed love is the genuine incentive to obedience now we have warmer love as well as clearer light then the Jews which doth strongly engage us to stricter Sabbaths then they were accustomed too They had Christ in a type we had him in truth they had him in a shadow we have him in substance they saw him afar off in a promise but we saw him bleeding on a Cross dying for our sins and rising again for our justification Rom. 4. 25. Rom. 8. 34. They saw Christ through the lattice and we with the window open they beheld him behind the cloud but we when the cloud was broken away And what is the inference Let this endearing love inspire us with gâ—eater zeal upon the Lords day that we may travel further in Heavens way on Apparuit dei potentia in creatioâ—â— dâ—i sapientia in reâ—um gâ—bernatione sed benignitas misericoâ—diae apparet in Christi humanitate Bern. that blessed season The love of a Father caused him to send down his Christ the love of a Christ caused him to lay down his life the love of the spirit causes him to bring home his work to a believing soul and this love of the Trinity should constrain every Christian to the holy observation of the Lords day When we understand how strictly sometimes the Jewish Church kept the Sabbath let the fire of love set us all in a flame and let the blushes of shame recruit our resolution concluding we have tasted deeper of the sweets of John 3. 16. John 10 17. Christs unspeakable love And if thou lovest Christ keep his Commandments John 14. 15. And among the rest the fâ—urth The Jews were tolerated in some things offensive which will not be permitted to us as in case of Polygamy so Jacob Gen. 29. 28. 1 Sam. 30. 5. â— Kings 11. 3. David Solomon holy and excellent men had their variety of wives and yet we read not of the thunder of a Ne quis adulteretur aut fornicetur Deus in remedium concupiscentiae instituit honorabile matrimonium illud cuivis amplecti licet Si eo relicto adulteretur quis aut fornicetur inexâ—usabilis sit ideòque à deo judicandus et damnandus Alap in Hebr. threat or the thunder-boult of a judgment falling upon them for that fact and practice There was something of a connivence God seemed as the Apostle speaks in the times of ignorance to wink at that unâ—â—stifiable procedure Acts 17. 30. But now in Gospel-times this plurality of wives incurs the penalty of the law of the land much more of the law of God and is a sin most scandalous and abominable well becoming the brutishness of a Turk or the barbarism of a Gentile Well then to come nearer to our purpose spots are sooner discerned in the garment of a Christian we have no shelter of connivence to fly unto if we break the law of marriage the Apostle tells us plainly Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge Heb. 13. 4. And so in the law of the Sabbath we have no toleration to plead or connivence as a skirt to be thrown over the breaches of it If we Christians break the Sabbath we are arrested by divine wrath without any bail or mainprize nor can we expect any suspension of divine displeasure Indeed God will something bear with offences in the duskish time of the law but he will Mat. 10. 15. scourge those very sins with scorpions in the times of the glorious Gospel Our tie therefore is not only stronger but our Mark 6. 11. interest and reason is clearer to engage us to Sabbath-holiness It will be more tolerable for the people of Israel and Luk. 10. 12 14. the inhabitants of Judah in the day of judgment then for Christians who shall presume upon Sabbath-violation The Gospel is a constant alarm to holiness There is no profession of the Gospel without an abjuâ—ation of all sin and uncleanness 2 Tim. 2. 19. The Gospel adds weight to every sin sin under the Gospel is like Adams transgression which was acted in Paradise a place of pleasure and abundance of purity and undefiledness it is like the sin of the buyers and sellers in the Temple their sin was inhaunced by Rom. 13. 12. the place Gospel light and love adds Vinegar to the Gall John 3. 19. of every offence Greater then must be our breaches of Gods holy day our prophanation of it must be of a scarlet dye and Heb. 12. 14. of a crimson tincture the poor Jews had never the argument of a Gospel to urge Sabbath-obedience or to inhance Sabbath-guilt they were in the Night Rom. 13. 12. The Noxâ—â—â— teâ—pus ante Christâ—m plenum terebrâ— infidelitatis peccatorum sed dies est rempus evangelti quo sol justitiae lucis suae radios toto orbe diffundit Praesente jam Christo et luce evangelii in hoc die opera tenebrarum abjicere et honestè ambulare et Christianè vivere debemus Cypr. 2 Cor. 4. 4. Mal. 5. 15. Cant. 1. 7. day-spring from on high never visited them but our day shines bright upon us which clears up our way to sanctity and holiness Let not Christians then under a pure purifying Gospel under a Gospel â—hich will both discover and condemn every evil way under a Gospel which was indited by a holy Spirit which leads to a holy life which suits with a holy heart let not such brutifie
themselves and sensualize upon Gods holy day let them not waste that golden spot in trifling recreations let not them formalize and dissemble away the Market-day of their Souls surely their doom will be aggravated with all circumstances of horrour and amazement Fond Christians who idle away and unravel their precious Sabbaths see not the Witness behind the Curtain viz. the blessed and glorious Gospel which will come in against them to sharpen their sentence and condemnation we Christians cannot violate Sabbaths at so cheap a rate as others may more especially a poor benighted Jew who hath lost his way and is wandering to eternal perdition Let every Christian consider Christ makes his flocks to rest at noon The Jews never had those patterns of Sabbath-holiness as we Christians have had It is true God rested the seventh day after the finishing and accomplishment of the stupendous Gen 2. 3. work of the Creation and his Rest was both exemplary and preceptive to the world to keep that day as a day of holy rest But the great Jehovah was in Heaven above the eye of observation But now Jesus Christ the great Archetype of sanctity he was a visible Pattern of Sabbath-holiness John 5. 8. to us and let us trace our dear Redeemer in his Sabbatical actions and wherein they are imitable they are admirable Mat. 12. 13. we shall find our Beloved on that day either working Luke 14. 4 5 6 7. 8 9. his Cures or shewing his Miracles or breaking out into holy discourses or preaching abroad his heavenly doctrines Luke 6. 6. or pouring out his Soul in holy prayers something or other Luke 6. 12. like the Son of God he is doing on the day of God And so the holy Apostles those blessed Spirits as one calls them Those Pen-men of the Holy Ghost as all call them they were rarely exemplary in Sabbath-observation Not to mention how affectionately they grasped the opportunity of the Jews Christus utitur exemple ovis in soveam incidentus in die Sabbati post â—eâ—â—cta ea quae ad Sabbati ministerium et cultum pertinent Sabbath as a fit season to preach Jesus Christ and to throw their Net into many waters How did they manage the true Sabbath the Lords day now taking possession of its right in becoming the weekly Festival of the Church 1. They were most frugal of the time of it Paul preaches on this day till midnight Acts 20. 17. 2. They were most copious in the duties of it they preach they administer the Sacrament which undoubtedly was accompanied Chemnit with fervent and solemn prayer 3. They take care of the poor Acts 20. 7. And 4ly One of this Apostolical society is in high raptures 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. and sublime elevations on this day Nay the Apostle of the Gentiles acts charity to a miracle Acts 20. 10. thinking Revel 1. 10. nothing too great to add to the celebrity and honour of this holy day Now do the Jews tell you of a zealous Nehemiah who shut the Gates of Jerusalem the Evening before the Sabbath to keep God in and shut prophaneness out Nehem. 13. 17 18 19 20 21. we may reply a little to invert our Saviours speech A greater than Nehemiah is here one whose shoo-latchet that worthy man is not worthy to unloose to speak in the language of John the Baptist Mark 1. 7. We then having fairer Luke 11. 31. Copies it is no reason but we should mend our hand The Limner draws the Picture according to the person who sits and the more lovely the person is the more beautiful is the Picture How should we then keep the Sabbath holy who have the pattern of him who is the fairest of ten thousand Psal 45. 2. And how doth this upbraid their practice who make the Sabbath a day of sloth and idleness when the holy Apostle on the same day laboured in preaching of the Gospel Acts 20. 7. till midnight Let us then in the fear of the God of Jacob keep Sabbaths as we have Christ and his blessed Apostles for our ensamples We have more liberty and desirable freedom than the 1 Cor. 11. 1. Jews had in sanctifying the Sabbath their sanctification of that holy day consisted in a multitude of purifications washings and cleansings and in a number of Sacrifices and Oblations they had their burnt Offerings and their Num. 28. 9 10. Meat-offerings nay and their Drink-offerings and all these Sacerdâ—s singulis sabbatis lignum subjiâ—it ad nutriendum ignem in Altari Movebantur panes propositionis c. were doubled as was suggested before on the Sabbath-day their observation of the Sabbath was more toilsom and laborious they were imployed in more drudgery they were to look after their Flour and their Oyl killing of Beasts and such things which were of a more inferiour and carnal nature their duties on the Sabbath were clogged and burdened with more sweat and â—â—â—poral painfulness and were of a grosser alâ—oy The Priests among the Jews on a Sabbath Mat. 12. 5. were busied in cutting of word to feed the fire of the Altar that it might not go out and in preparing of bread to put upon the Table of Shewbread and to remove that which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was there before All these Operations as Chemnitius calls them required the hand not the heart and were works of the lower form To all which may be added that the Jews Levit. 23. 6. besides their weekly Sabbath they had the Passeover the Levit. 23. 16. Feast of Pentecâ—st the Feast of Trumpets the Feast of Tabernacles Levit. 23. 24. the day of Attonement which was the tenth day of Levit. 23. 27. the seventh Moneth and these were all called Sabbaths Levit. 23. 34. Levit. 23. 24 32 36. And some of these Feasts and Solemnities Levit. 23. 8. were celebrated divers days together Levit. 23. 36. Now it is not so with us under the Gospel the Apostle Exod. 12. 3. hath eased us at once of all these legal Festivals 2 Col. 16. Exod. 23. 14. Let no man condemn you in respect of an holy day or of the new Gal. 4. 9 10. Moon or of the Sabbath days viz. Jewisn And so Gal. 4. 9 Non sunt damnandi christiani tanquam divinae legis transgressores out violatae conscientiae rei quòd non observant festa legis ceremonialis quicquid contra superstitiosè ogganniunt Pseudo Apostoli Daven 10. Ye observe days and months and times which are weak and beggerly rudiments All these Festivals are of no use to us but are fully cancelled and cashiered Thus God hath sweetned our Sabbath far above that of the Jews Prayers are our onely Offering Sighs our Incense Sacraments our Passeover we have no Drink-offering but to drink in truth in the hearing of the word we have no Meat-offering but to feed upon
a Cudgel or to frisk in a Maurisk-dance on Gods sacred and solemn day And indeed sensual latitudes and relaxations are rather our thraldom than our liberty and the end of that mirth is heaviness Prov. 14. 13. the impediments of holiness and avocations from duty and serve onely to recruit the force and strength of temptation When David was at ease walking in his Gallery Orig. Quid dicendum est ad eos qui magis seculo quà m deo vacant then his sloath coupled with the temptation of Dalilahs beauty and produced those cursed twins of Murther and Idolatry the defiling of the Wife and the destroying of the Husband 2 Sam. 11. 4 15. Hierom complained of some in his time who were more at leisure for the world Hier. Decalogi verba deus per semetipsum locutus est ideò permanet apud nos extensionem et augmentum non dissolutionem accipiens per carnalem Christi advantum than God upon his own day And this that devout Father interpreted a crying sin Irenaeus saith positively That the Decalogue in whose bosom the Commandement for the Sabbath lies received extension and increase not remisness and enervation by the coming of Christ And a learned man observes That liberty for sports and ease on a Sabbath-day is not liberty but licentiousness and where it is admitted there follow the greatest decays of piety and godliness Well then Christian liberty which was the purchase of Iren. advers Her l 4. cap. 31. Eph. 1. 7. 1 Col. 14. Liberatio ab obligatione ad poenam à metu et solicitudine irae divinae et maledictionis et mortis aeternae Bucan ibid. Christs blood is not the indulgence and ease of the flesh it is something of a more refined nature something which hath a tast and smatch of heavenliness and that glorious liberty of the Saints above And Bucanus makes foure branches of it 1. It is a freedom from the killing power of sin and so consequentially an immunity from the second death Rom. 8. 1 2. and this is the liberty of life and righteousness as this learned man is pleased to call it 2. A liberty from the obligation of the ceremonial and from the condemnation of the moral Law Gal. 3. 13. Rom. 6. 14. so that the moral Law is the Rule but cannot be the ruine the guide of and cannot be the hand-writing against a true Believer 3. A freedom of boldness and access to the throne of grace that we may go to God as Children to a Father and not as Gal. 2. 4 5. Prisoners to a Judge with trembling on our lips paleness in our face and agonies in our spirits Rom. 8. 15. 4. A liberty from the old Mosaical Impositions that Gal. 3. 25. puerile Alphabet accomodated to the nonage of the Church Now in all this there is nothing mentioned of Luke 1. 74 75. fleshly ease or carnal liberty one cries out of such kind of liberty O egregious liberty a fair purchase for the blood of the John 8. 36. Son of God In a word our strict and holy deportment on the Sabbath was no stumbling block that Christ came to remove no yoke that he came to break but the clean contrary Christ came to procure closer and stricter communion Rom. 8. 21. between God and the Saints that Believers might serve 2 Cor. 3 17. him with greater care and devotion he hath purchased for us more spiritual intercourses and one well saith Duty is Gal. 5. 13. the greatest liberty and sin is the greatest bondage we cannot Jam. 2. 12. be left to a greater thraldom then to walk in the ways of our own hearts the sinning Angels are said to be kept Eccles 11 9. in chains of darkness Jude 6. A wicked man is in bondage here and hereafter here insnares 2 Tim. 2. 26. and hereafter in chains Matth. 22. 13. Oftentimes we cannot endure the restraints of the Word or the serverities of Religion and we look upon them which is the case now in hand as an infringement of our liberty but we should seriously consider these blessed tyes and confinements are not our bolts or our griefs but our ornaments Psal 119. 45. this is onely that free and uncontrolled life which is spent in serving in loving in enjoying and praising of God the glorified Saints above have rest not ease they inherit seraphical and divine not sensual delights and liberties that Soul enjoys most freedom on a Sabbath who hath enjoyed closest communion with God and relaxed the least from spiritual services 2 Pet. 2. 19. Wicked men who most rove in the ranges of sin Roma est domitrix mundi et captiva vitiorum Aug. de civ dei Josephus suit liber sed domina ejus suit captiva quia suis obedivit libidinibus Chrysost homil 19. in prior Epist ad Corinth are the greatest slaves as it was said of Rome She was the Mistress of the World but the drudge of sin and lust Wicked Cham his curse was to be the servant of servants Chrysostom elegantly observes That Joseph who resisted the temptation was the free man but his Mistris who promoted it was the captive for she obeyed her swaying lusts The people of God especially in their holy converses are the Lords free men 1. They have the assistance of a free Spirit Psal 51. 12. 2. They proceed in a free state in a state of Sonship and well-pleasing Rom. 3. 13. A Believer in all his spiritual actions acts with an ingenious liberty and confidence Gal. 4. 15. Object But some cavelling Objectors are not so well pleased with this heavenly freedom and therefore they plead for a sensual and to justifie their claim they urge Scripture especially that of Mark 2. 27. The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath From whence they conclude that the undue restraints which some rigorous Preachers impose upon the people on the Lords day are onely the sowrness and fancy of their own melancholy and disturbed Brain our Saviour here gives us liberty which they shall not be willing to part with upon the opinion of a rugged Disciplinarian Answ Now to answer this Text learned men give a threefold interpretation of it but none of them look that way our Sabbatum propter hominem factum est non homo propter sabbatum Hoc argumentum sumptum est ex fundamentis institutionis sabbati homo enim conditus fuit ante institutionem sabbati ergo non homo propter sabbatum c. Sabbatum enim propter usum commodum utilitatem hominis institutum fuit Duebus enim modis propter hominem institutum est sabbatum 1. Quoad corpus Deut. 5. 14. ut requiescat servus tuus ancilla tua c. 2. Quoad spiritualem aedificationem animae Exod. 39. 13. Ezek. 20. 12. Sanctificavit deus sabbatum i. e. deputavitillud homini ad cultum divinum exercendum hoc fundamentum christus
pulchre opponit Pharisaeorum accusationibus vos malletis quasi diceret propter sanctificationem sabbati discipulos meos esurientes potius affligi quam spicas aliquas discerpere item malletis hominem perire quam Sabbatis sanari atqui hoc directè pugnat cum Deut. 5. 14. Sabbatum propter hominem c. sensus igitur est Nec cum noxâ nec cum exitio aut damno homiâ—iâ—â—â—â—genda eâ—t â—xterna obsâ—â—vatio Sabbati Sicut in exemplo Davidis est manifestissimum Chemnit John 8. 36. Psal 119. 164. Psal 27. 4. Psal 84. 10. Libertines would fasten upon it 1. They say the Sabbath was made for man because man was created before its institution and therefore this festival was ordained for his entertainment in the world for his profit and advantage but not for his play sports and recreations This institution of the Sabbath â—yed man now newly created and made Gods Viceroy upon earth 2. The Sabbath was made for man that is for his corporal good that on this day he might rest from the toyls of the world Deut. 5. 14. In the Commandement for the Sabbath God consulted mans weakness but not his wantonness he studied his frame but not his fancy God appointed the Sabbath that man should not over-bend the Bow but relax and remit his painful labours and so be more composed and at leisure for spiritual service and worship so the Sabbath was made for man for the good of his body 3. The Sabbath was made for man viz. for his spiritual good that man on that holy day might be built up in his most holy faith and that he might enjoy sweet communion with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ 1 John 1. 3. How often is the Sabbath the Souls nuptial day wherein it is esponsed and married to Christ it is a day of divine support of refection and recruit to Grace and often of the execution and mortification of lust and corruption The Sabbath is the Souls banquetting day a fit season for strengthning and repast while it travels upon the Mountains of prey and feeds with the flocks of Christ at noon Cant. 1. 7. Psal 76. 4. However they who shall torture this Text to the utmost and put it upon the strictest wrack shall force it to speak no more then thus much That man must not run the hazard or peril of life for the outward observation of a Sabbath man must observe it but not with an apparent danger of himself if it cannot be observed without harm and certain damage the external observation must be suspended and mans life and good must not be impaired and our Saviour instanceth in Davids eating of Shewbread an extraordinary and unjustifiable action yet it may be apologized for and maintained in a case of necessity and so the Disciples of Christ plucking the ears of Corn it was for support and necessary satisfaction And so mans life is more considerable than the outward observance of a day especially considering that the Sabbath was calculated for mans good in its first original and institution and the whole man both Soul and body was taken into consideration when it was first set on foot in the world Now this fair and candid construction of the Text detests all carnal liberty and all swinges of pleasure and sensual delight upon Gods sacred and solenm day In a word it is no ways suitable to a gracious spirit to be importunate for carnal liberty on Gods holy day The sensual delights of this life they are the clog not the comfort of a Saint their fetters rather then their freedom A believer is never more himself then when he travels over spiritual objects in holy meditation and freely vents himself in holy prayer and supplication He complains not of being clogged unless when he is bird-limed with a temptation or staked down by a malepert corruption that he cannot rise and fly up to God in holy devotion he knows not any liberty but the liberty of Ordinances and he is then only free who is manumitted by Gods good spirit his confinement is the transiency not the length of a Sabbath and he is dismissed from an Ordinance with a sigh Fleshly ease pleaseth not him on a Sabbath because it keeps him from his beloved nor dare he exchange duty for recreation He thinks it a poor and incontemptible thing to be running after a bowl on the Lords day when he should be running his race and pressing forward towards the Mark Phil. 3. 14. Nor can he mind a sport when he is to look after a prize The Saint thinks recreations on a Sabbath are not only the loss of time and an empty Parenthesis but they are Dalilahs to rock him asleep that so he may lose Praetereà arbitrium nostrum voluntatem nostram Christus in aliquam partem libertatis ponit dum donat nos spiritu sancto cujus gratiâ corrapta nostra natura instaurata spontaneo est ut juxta prae ceptum dei benè agamus pietati studere incipiamus prompto Matth. 19. 8. spiritu nam ubi spiritus est ibi est libertas Chemnit Eccl. 9. 10. 2 Cor. 3. 17. his spiritual strength Whatever he doth on a Sabbath he doth it with all his might and he knows there is no more work nor device in a recreation then in the grave And truly it too much savours of a carnal heart either to be an Advocate to plead for or to be an Actor to engage in sensual delights on Gods Holy day from the beginning from holy David from zealous Nehemiah it was not so CHAP. XLVIII The first Decad of Arguments to perswade conscience to an holy observation of the Lords day THe design of pressing conscience to a due observance of Gods blessed day is already begun and the rise hath been taken from the sometimes solemn and accurate carriage of the Jews upon their Sabbath And shall a Vagabond Jew out-vy us shall that branch which is cut off be Rom. 11. 19. more fresh and flourishing in Sabbath-observation then the branch which is engraffed and implanted in its room Shall In die dominico tantùm deo tantum divinis cultibus vacandum est Aug. the slave be more obsequious then the Son The vassal more obediential then the Heir The Jews still though blasted with a Curse yet they at least some of them keep their Sabbath with great zeal and devotion And shall not Christians who lie under dews of divine blessing and live under Sun-shines of Gospel heat and light be more frugal of the time and more spiritual in the duties of the Lords day Let not a disinherited Jew rise up in judgment against us But of this already But now further to press conscience to a holy keeping of the Lords day Arg. 1 Let us consider how much folly is bound up in prophaning Gods day We put away from us all those golden promises Jer. 17. 24 25. which God hath entailed upon a
hearts by the light of Nature but this only was given by outward Ordinance and Institution and we are more apt to forget Instructions then Inclinations 2. Because this Commandment more restrains natural liberty then all the rest the other Commandments restrain only things sinful but this prohibits things lawful at any other time nay it restrains our very words Isa 58. 13. and our very thoughts our lawfull works and secular employments must be laid aside on this day we must not think or discourse of the world and the things of it on this blessed day 3. Because of the multitude of our affairs on the six days which had need to be remembred to be finished seasonably or else they will breed distractions on the Lords day nor is it so facil and easie to keep off their impressions and intrusions when we are to converse with God on his own day 4. Because the Devil will assuredly prompt us to forget this Commandment so to quench the memory both of the Creation and the work of our Redemption that he may the more readily draw us to despair by forgetting the salvifical work of our Redemption or else to Atheisme by forgetting the stupendous work of the Creation for as the work of Creation first give us a Sabbath so the work of Redemption afterwards gave us our Sabbath Now to prevent these mischicvous inconveniencies we are alarm'd and quickned with a Memento to keep this Commandment as a means to preserve the memory both of Father and Son and so to keep on foot holy and divine worship This Commandment of the Sabbath is of most weight to be remembred for the observance of all the rest of the Commandments depend much upon the keeping of this Let us cast our eye upon the Conversion of sinners where one hath been converted on the week day many have been brought home to God on his own day God doth delight to dispence his graces on his own day so that in keeping this day we preserve an opportunity when God doth confer his graces on the Sons of men and in a careless observing of this day we put from us an opportunity of getting and obtaining the grace of God So then keep this day and we keep all neglect this day and we neglect all the proper means for life and salvation This is the season when the Angel comes down to stir the waters and then is our time to step in and be healed John 5. 4. This indeed is the fundamental command on which the superstructure of piety and religion is fastened and built On this day God draws nigh to his people and they to him nay the way to lay hold on Gods Covenant is to keep his Sabbath there is some hopes of a mans salvation when he makes conscience of keeping this holy day 7. The reason why this Commandment is of so much weight to be remembred is because in it we are made more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spiritually minded it frames our spirits to be more fit and adequate to every good word and work we are as not of this world the Apostle saith Heb. 4. 9. Verily there remains a Rest for the people of God Implying that the Saints in Heaven keep a Sabbath-Rest meditating divine things singing praises and minding only the things of Heaven Nothing more fits and accommodates our spirits to the supreme good Vis in die quem dicunt solis solem colitis sicut nos in eundem dominicum non solem sed resarrectionem domini veneramur then a holy observation of the Sabbath it is the beginning of heaven here our hearts then work up more and more to their centre to their God to their Christ 8. We must remember this Commandment In keeping the Sabbath we keep in mind Gods chiefest mercies the benefit of our Creation and of our Redemption the first giving us our beings the second our well beings the first being the Aug. Contr. Faust Manich Lib. 10. fountain of Nature the second being the spring of Grace And whereas there are Three most glorious persons shewing themselves in their several works tending to mans good the due observation of the Sabbath puts us in the remembrance of them all Of the Father who created us and then gave the Gen. 2. 3. world a Sabbath of the Son who redeemed us and on this day ascended from the Grave of the Holy Ghost who inspires Acts 2. 1 2 3. us and sheds a beauty upon us who as on this day descended from heaven in a miraculous flame upon the blessed Apostles which was an infallible earnest of those plenteous effusions of the spirit which should be poured forth upon the Church in all ages Thus upon weighty reasons a Memento Dan 5. 6. is affixed to the fourth and only to the fourth Commandment which if it be not a note of observance to point out our Sanctificatio Sabbati est diem à deo anteà sanctificatum pro sancto habere et exercitâ—is religionis et fidei exercendae sedulo inâ—umbere Atque ita sanctificationem dei haudquaquam prophanare sed illibatam conservare Muscul great concernment in the holy keeping of it it will be an hand-writing on the wall to make us tremble to all everlasting A learned man observes That God should preface this Commandment with a Memento it implies that some serious thing is commanded something of the highest importance which upon our peril must not be neglected or forgotten This command is a treasure committed to us with a great charge And it is observable it is not said Remember that thou keep the Sabbath day but remember the Sabbath to keep it holy Exod. 20. 8. God stops not at Sabbath day but adds to keep it holy evidently implying that to set apart the time of a Sabbath is not considerable but to spend that time in holy duties and in the holy exercises of faith and religion this is the fulfilling of the Commandment When Gods sanctifying of Sabbatum non est merè quies Leid Prof. the day as Musculus speaks is not prophaned by us but kept pure and unspotted The Memento then in this Commandment is only the usher of holiness Gods loud call to strictness and sanctity on his own day the significant harbinger to tell us Christ is coming and on this day he must lodge in our hearts Arg. 7 No Command is sweetned with more equity then that of the Sabbath There is that which Aristotle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in it a Facillimum est et aequissimum ei cujus toti sumus unum diem è septem conservare qui sex alios nostris laboribus concessit cùm tamen potuisset jure suo plures illis servandos judicare Riv. just and moderate Imposition there is not so much voluntas imperantis the will of him who commands as ratio impeâ—andi the reason of the command it self In this command God rather exercises jus Patris
they gathered it six dayes together and ceased the seventh day being the Sabbath day without controversie it began to fall on the first day which is the Lords day and still upon our Lords day the Lord rains Manna upon his people the true Manna did not cease in the wilderness but is still showred down upon the due observers of Gods holy day Divine blessings more sweet more pleasant then Israels Manna or bread resembling wafers or Corianders seed shall enrich and refresh the devout soul on Gods holy day Exod. 16. 31. Arg. 10 No command is punished with more severity then that of the Sabbath when it is broken and disobeyed Sabbath prophanation is a sin which will be beaten with many stripes For the better discovery of this great truth we shall follow it by degrees God eyes Sabbath-prophaneness most exactly If it be but the carrying of a burden Jer. 17. 27. God takes notice of it and it sets all in a flame There are two things God is most Sabbata Dei sunt ejus delitiae sunt ejus faelicitas et illa in dei contemplatione consistunt quibus à seculi curis et laboribus vacantes divina opera et judicia contemplemur Alap jealous of 1. Of his truth 2. Of his day God will see little spots on his own day Little flaws are seen in a jewel every one takes notice of spots in the Moon which is a bright and glorious luminary the finer the cloth is the more damageable the rent is which is in it Gods Sabbath is one of his most precious things it is not said Jer. 17. 27. If any commit a gross sin upon my Sabbath But if any bear a burden Secular works are sinful works on Gods holy day every toil is a trespass and to bear a burden upon the back is to draw guilt upon the soul God threatens Sabbath-prophanness most sharply The threats of God are the drawing of his bow they are the sharpning of his sword and the fitting it for execution they Ter poenam capitalem infligendum deus exprimit vilatoribus Sabbati quam poenam certum est immò de temporali morte et supplicio infligendum transgredienti esse intelligendum quod etiam ex praxi constat 15. Num. 32. Et haec quidam 〈◊〉 infligebatur ad exemplum Obstinatis etiam aeternam mortein fuisse denunciatam non inficias imus Rivet are his warning-pieces which he shoots off to affright secure sinners they are his frowns which are the evidences of his wrath and indignation Now God surely threatens the violations of his Sabbath he threatens them not with a light affliction but with death it self Exod. 31. 14 15. The soul which shall prophane the Sabbath shall die the death nay this sin shall not only destroy the Citizen but the City too Jer. 17. 27. set the gates on fire where the safety of the City lay No Portcullis can secure that City where the Sabbath is prophaned nay God threatens Sabbath-prophanation with his consuming fury Ezek. 20. 13 21. which can lay waste all which lies before it every thing is stubble to Gods wrath no gate so strong to resist it no Person so potent to withstand it Divine fury can as easily rase as Divine Power can create a world And this fury God will poure out on those who prophane his day God complains of Sabbath-prophanation most bitterly When God was drawing up his Endictments against the people of Israel now going into captivity one of his chiof charges was Sabbath-pollution they defiled his day which he would have kept spotless and this did accent his complaints and put an Emphasis upon his grievous expostulations Sabbata domini profanant homines tùm eorum prophanationem vident non corripiunt sed oâ—ulos suos avertunt et conniventes dissimulant item cùm ea non piè observant They despise my statutes saith God Ezek. 20. 24. How doth this appear Why saith God They pollute my Sabbaths as if the contempt of Religion was wrapt up in Sabbath-prophanation And in another place Ezek. 22. 8. They despise my holy things saith God but what is the evidence of it why saith the Lord they prophane my Sabbaths this goes to the heart of God and nothing more provokes his spirit Nay which is observable God calls the prophaning of his Sabbath the prophaning of himself Ezek. 22. 26. so the text They have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths I am prophaned among them To pollute Gods day is to cast Coinquinabar Ezek. 22. 26. i. e. profanè tractabar abâ—iiâ— dirt in the very face of God himself and when men make light of the Sabbath they lose the reverence they should bear to the sacred Majesty of God Sabbath-prophanation huddles all in confusion as God complains Ezek. 22. 26. and makes men Atheists so as to have no regard of the incomprehensible and tremendous Jehovah who as the Apostle saith Heb. 12. 29. is a consuming fire And so God bitterly complains Polluitur Sabbatum cùm cujus gratiâ instituitur à plerisque non curatur Muscul Ezek. 23. 38. Moreover this they have done unto me they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day and have prophaned my Sabbaths What is done to Gods day he takes it as done to himselfe When his day is polluted and when his Saints are persecuted this is drawing against God himself Acts 9. 4 5. In a word the prophaning of Gods Sabbath makes him first poure out his complaint and then poure out his fury the smothering of his complaint quickly breaks out into the flame of his indignation God punisheth Sabbath-prophanation most severely We have already discovered the sharpness of Gods eye in the discerning the frowns of Gods brow in the threatning the totus dies dominicus ex toto animo quantum ferat humana necessiâ—as et imbeâ—illitas ritè et piè servandus est etenim ejus prophanationi et pollutioni maledictionem comminatur Deus Exod. 31. 14. Lev. 26. 2 14. Jer. 17. 27. et poenis gravissimis morte ulciscitur utpote cujus contemptus est totius legis dei et divini cultus repudiatio Leid Prof. complaints of Gods mouth in his complaining against and now we come to take notice of the strokes of Gods hand in the revenging of the violations of his blessed Sabbath The Histories of all ages do afford many dreadfull examples of Vengeance executed upon those who have prophaned this day The Reverend Mr. Walker tells us That he could relate more then thirty examples of Gods heavy vengeance upon Sabbath-breakers within the space of two years some of which were struck with suddain death by Gods immediate hand others devoured in the waters some cut off by surfets which they got by dancing and drinking on the Lords day some fired out of their houses in the midst of their quaffing and jollity and all their goods and substance consumed And these Judgements have befallen them in the
are we in observation of other dayes If that storms of Providence drive us to a day of Humiliation we can with the Jews Zach. 7. 5. fast and mourn and reach Ahab in his deepest sorrows 1 Kings 21. 27. And if the smiles of Providence call us to a day of Purim Esth 9. 26. a festival of joy we can keep that day with spiritual rejoycing and gladness of heart Esth 9. 22. And we can delight our selves in the Lord. As Cambden reports of Queen Elizabeth when God delivered her and her Kingdom from the Caâ—bd Elizab. Spanish Armado her first work was to go to Pauls Church and there hear a Sermon of praise rejoycing greatly in the God of her and the Kingdomes salvation Now as one observes The Lords day is the proper feast of Christians our spiritual jubilee though moving in a swifter sphear and Mr. P. on the Romans shall dayes of the appointment of a state put us upon a more exact composure and find us more hearty in their observation then that special and blessed day which is the appointment of a God Or shall a passage of Providence the endurance of a loss or the gaining of a Victory or some other strok of Gods hand or smile of Gods face find us more serious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanas more solemn more devout then the Resurrection of a Christ the new birth day of the world and the sole foundation of a Christians happiness Shall the deliverance from a Spanish Armado fill us with more spiritual delight in God then the deliverance from Heli and Destruction Had not Christ broke the chains of death we had everlastingly been kept in chains of darkness Our Lords day then glories in a more excellent occasion and why should it not be celebrated with a more serious Cotenae tenebrarum sunt 1 Conscientiae reatus 2. Aeternum puniendi decretum 3. Miserrima reproborum desperatio devotion One well observes That the Jews thought reverently of and acted zealously on their solemn though ceremonial festivals those bright appearances which were chased away by the rising of the Sun of Righteousness therefore to use the Apostles words a little inverted seeing all those other dayes of observation are and shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness upon our unalterable Sabbath whose lease expires not till the 2 Pet. 3 11. death of the Vniverse CHAP. LII A third Decad of Arguments promoting the same design viz. a due sanctification of the Lords day THat every wind may fill our sails in pursuance of this great duty I shall now turn my Arguments to another point of the Compass Arg. 1 Let us take notice of the relation which God hath to the Sabbath In the time of the law the Sabbath was called the Sabbath of the Lord Lev. 23. 3. And verily my Sabbath shall ye keep Exod. 31. 13. And in the times of the Gospel our Christian Sabbath is called the Lords day Rev. 1. 10. Now this happy interest which God hath in the Sabbath from the beginning of the world to this day is a cogent Argument for Mat. 22. 21. our severer observation of it We will keep safely the treasure Maluit deus dicere sabbatum dei tui est quà m sabbatum tuum est Hoc dicens significat omnem ejus diei respectum ad nominis ipsius sanctificationem aâ— fidem esse dirigen dum Muscul of a friend and why not keep devoutly the Sabbath of a God If our Sabbath be the Lords day let us render to Christ the things which are Christs Gerard observes That the Sabbath is the Lords Sabbath to shew us the manner of our sanctification of it viz. In the works of God those works which are required and prescribed by God And Musculus adds very pertinently God would rather call it his Sabbath then ours to intimate to us that all the respect of that day must be directed to the hallowing of his Name and to the acting of faith and trust in him It is very observable how chary God is of his Sabbath he puts it into the heart of the Decalogue that none might come at it to affront it and he stamps his Name upon it that none should make it common Do ye think we can play with the Crown of a King or sport with the Scepter of a Prince Dominus ille cujus est Sabbatum est deus tuus ergò in honorem et cultum ipsius sabbatum sanctificabis Ger. Greater boldness it is to formalize away the Lords day and to waste that time which is his peculiar treasure Our wildness often roves up and down the common of the week but if we break into the inclosure of the Sabbath we shall certainly be found trespassers and hazzard an immortal soul We must take heed that we make bold only with what is our own and not with Gods day for that is no more lawfull for us than for every common Israelite to enter into the holy Hag. 2. 8. of holies There are two things God is very tender of Lev. 23. 3. 1. His people they are the Apple of his eye Jer. 2. 3. 2. His Sabbath which is the reserve of his time And as those who shall devour his people shall offend so those who shall prophane his day shall commit sacriledge a sin of the deepest tincture The consideration then that our Sabbath is the Lords day should compose our spirits should flush our services and sublimate our performances on that blessed day Argum. 2 Let us take notice of that tittle which God hath put upon the Sabbath It is an holy Sabbath to the Lord Exod. 16. Exod. 31. 15. 23. And here that answer to Peter Acts 10. 15. is very Qui luxu deliciantes voluptatibus se dedunt ad sanctificationem sabbati non sunt idonei quia diem sanctum domini suis commâ—â—ulant voluptatibus Hieron pertinent What God hath called clean we must not look upon as common They who prophane the Sabbath would pick out the image and superscription of it which is a fruitless and destructive attempt A stamp of holiness amplifies every defilement The spirit is a holy spirit and therefore it must not be grieved Eph. 4. 30. The law is a holy law Rom. 7. 12. and therefore must not be violated Jesus Christ is the Holy one of God Psal 16. 10. and therefore he must not be wounded and crucified afresh Heb. 6. 6. The Priests garments were holy Exod. 31. 10. and therefore not to be Sanctificatio dei est quâ dies septimus post sex dierum opera statim ab iâ—itio est deputatus consecratuâ— sanctificatio hominis est diem septimum à deo quietâ— confeâ—ratuâ— pro sancto nabere religionis exercitâ—â—â— ac fidei sedulò incumbere Muscul worn by another person The vessels of the Sanctuary were holy and therefore not to be employed
Rom. 11. 16 17. should look greener and sprout more then that which is grassed in Let us be earnest with God for Ministers that their success may be great and that they may see of the travel of their souls Praescrip 5. and be satisfied The Ministers work upon a Sabbath may Interior vita vigor gratiae ad crescendum adolescendum in fide charitate et Christianismo hoc solius dei est Alap be painful from himself but it is prosperous only from the Lord the Minister throws the net it is God brings the draught nay he may cast the net but God directs it to the right side of the ship The Apostle assures us It is God gives the increase 1 Cor. 3. 6. That Gods work prospers in the hands of the Ministers and in the hearts of the people is from Gods smile not from the Ministers sweat The Minister may have skill to open the Text but God only hath power to open the heart Let this God therefore be sought to that he would fill the Ministers sail with a prosperous wind and that every Sermon they preach and every Sabbath they celebrate may be as the bow of Jonathan and the sword of Saul which returned not empty 2 Sam. 1. 22. And we have a rare and rich promise to build and bottom our prayers upon which is mentioned Isa 55. 10 11. As the rain comes down and showers from heaven and return not thither but Isa 55. 10 11. water the earth making it bud and bring forth seed to the sower and bread to the eater so saith God shall my word be that goes out of my mouth it shall not return to me void Let us heartily sue out this blessed promise in holy prayer to the Lord Strong prayers are the readiest method to make successful Sabbaths Ministers might do great things upon the prayers of the people they might convince conscience they Acts 2. 37. might prick to the heart and fasten truth upon the soul and go off in the evening of a Sabbath crying victory ovor captivated Converts and lead many lost sheep home to the great shepherd of their souls we have many still-born Ordmances because previous prayers did not put life into them It is prayer that can give a good Minister to a people Philem. ver 22. And it is prayer can bless a good Minister to a people How frequent and pathetical is the Apostle Paul with Ingens est orationum virtus potentia ut Paulus talis tantusque vir illarum ope subsidio indi geat Theopil those to whom he writes to beg and importune their prayers so Rom. 15. 30. Now I beseech you Brethren for the Lord Jesus Christ his sake and for the love of the spirit that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me We may see the great Apostle of the Gentiles though resplendent with such rich gifts enriched with such eminent grace and conducted by the guidance of an infallible spirit yet he stood in need of the people prayers Nay this blessed Apostle not only sollicits the prayers of the Church of the Romans but he addresses himself to other Churches to that at Thessalonica 2 Thes 3. 1. Finally Brethren pray for us that the word of the Lord may have a free course and be glorified even as it is with you Thus Gospel victories are usually the issue of wrestling with God And thus again Paul importunes prayers 1 Thes 5. 25. Brethren pray for us And again Heb. 13. 18. Pray for us This holy Apostle rests not so much upon his own pains as others prayers knowing that the gales of the spirit by which we hoise up sail for heaven are promised to earnest and importunate prayer Luke 11. 13. And indeed as the Minister must row with one Oare by powerful and painful preaching to the people so the people must row with the other by frequent praying for the Minister Dispensator domus dei curam hobet in eâ omnia regit omnia ordinat distribuit They must strive together as the Apostles phrase is Rom. 15. 30. In a word one piece of service which we owe to the Sabbath is that we beg of God that the Ministers who are stars Rev. 1. 20. may fructiferously shine upon who are light Mat. 5. 14. may be a safe conduct to who are Salt Mat. 5. 13. may throughly season and preserve who are Stewards 1 Cor. 4. 1. may feed and refresh the people of God on his own blessed day Let us be much in prayer that Magistrates would take care Praescrip 6. of Gods holy Sabbath Magistrates are called shields Psal 47. 9. Let us pray that they defend the Sabbath from sin and Lev. 19. 17. prophanation Magistrates are called Gods Psal 82. 6. Let us pray that they would remember their own title and commend Gods day to a holy and strict observation And Qui non vetat peccare cùm potest jubet Senec. surely as children for the most part are as the Nurses are so Sabbaths in Nations and Kingdoms are as the Magistrates are we may feel the pulse of the Magistrate in the observation of the Sabbath And therefore let us pray for Magistrates because the eye of the people is fixed more stedily on the Magistrates Sword then on the Scholars pen or the Ministers tongue Magistratical severity more awes and influences then Ministerial intreaties That weapon gives us the deepest wound which is sharpned by civil Authority When a Ministers zeal is insignificant In Sabbati observatione non Ministros verbi tantùm sed et Patres familias iâ—primis Magistratus versari decet Wal. the Magistrates heat will be effectual a Magstrates frown shall operate more throughly then a Ministers check When Nehemiah threatned the strangers to lay hands upon them they came no more upon the Sabbath day Nehem. 13. 21. The soft bowels of a Minister may be abortive when the sure force of a Magistrate may put life into the reformation of the Sabbath Besides the fourth Commandment is retinaculum caeterorum the bond of obedience both to God and man in the duties Custodire Sabbatum per Synechdochen accipiatur pro observatione totius legis praesertim primae tabulae quae religionem cultum dei spectat Alap of the first and the second table this Commandment is the golden clasp which joynes both the Tables together and therefore it is much to be observed that keeping the Sabbath from polluting it and keeping the hands from doing any evil are both coupled and joyned together Isa 56. 2. The pollution of the Sabbath is the usual introduction of all other sin It may be added if Magistrates let the reins loose to connive at vanity and prophaneness on the Lords day the Nation will be filled with evil subjects the Church will be filled with corrupt members and private families will be filled with stubborn children and licentious Servants and
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
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.
supposed inferior be concluded in the determination of another part being as is presumed of greater dignity And from whence arose this inequality Therefore intricacies and unanswerable difficulties will multiply unless we ascribe to our dear Jesus the appointment of his own day for weekly and solemn worship Besides it is very considerable that which is of universal observation none but God can impose by his supream Authority to which all are equally subject and such is the observation of the Lords day which equally belongs to all persons at all times and in all Acts 20. 24. ages there are none exempt from obedience to it and Rev. 20. 12. therefore no particular men could ordain this universal observance Rom. 2. 16. which must be submitted to by all who will give 2 Cor. 5. 10. up their account with joy in the day of the Lord Jesus Reas 4 The seventh day Sabbath was by Gods immediate institution Gen. 2. 3. Exod. 20. 8. And therefore the change of it into the Lords day must be by the immediate institutioâ— of Jesus Christ And the reason of it is there hath never been a religious change made of any Ordinance of God immediately prescribed by him but by God himself and by his own Authority For if the institution be immediate by him the change into another must be by the like Authority also for he who ordaineth hath only power â—o alter 1. Man cannot change such an Ordinance for it is complained of as a sin for the people to change Gods Ordinances Isa 24. 5. And if any but God have Authority to change his own Ordinances immediately appointed by himself their Authority is equal with his But to assert this is both ridiculous and blasphemous No the whole Church assembled together hath no such authority it is but humane at the highest and besides if unstable man could alter an immediate Ordinance of God what stability Lex dei est aeterna et in aeternum dâ—ratura et deus exscindet eos qui mutant jus i e leges et jura could there be in these Ordinances or what tie could they fasten upon mens consciences 2. All religious changes of every Ordinance of Gods own immediate appointment hath ever been by himself and instances to the contrary cannot be alleadged The Tabernacle was of Gods immediate institution and the Temple â—rected in the stead of it was likewise of his own appointment David minding to build it and Nathan approving his 2 Sam 7. 2 3. intention but without the command of God was afterwards prohibited Neither did God leave it to the wisdom of Solomon though the wisest of men but he himself gave the pattern of it 1 Chron. 28. 11 12 19. The time of celebrating the Passeover was the fourteenth of the first Moneth appointed by God himself Exod. 12. 6. which time Moses durst not dispence with nor allow any other day for some to keep it without Gods immediate warrant Numb 9. 8 11. Times and seasons are in Gods hands Acts 1. 10. And therefore the Moneth Tisri is turned into the Moneth Nisan to begin the year withall by Gods immediate command Exod. 12. 2. And Antiochus Epiphanes is condemned Dan. 2. 21. for changing times Thus we see Gods Ordinances for Dan. 7. 25. Places for Persons for Times being immediately appointed by God cannot be changed but by God and therefore the seventh day being the immediate institution of God could not be changed into another day as now it is but by God Rom. 9. 5. himself even by Jesus Christ who when he was come in the flesh changed the place of worship John 4. 20 21. changed the Law and the Priesthood chap. 7. of the Hebrews into the Doctrine and Ministry of the Gospel Priests and Levites he changed into Apostles Evangelists Ministers Eph. 4. 11. The carnal worship Christ changed into spiritual John 4. 24. Circumcision he changed into Baptism the Passeover into the Lords Supper and the seventh day Sabbath into our blessed Lords day Reas 5 That day the due â—bservation of which tends to Gods glory and his publick worship to Mans instruction and building up in the most holy faith which day was solemnized by the holy and heavenly inspired Apostles which likewise Christus est dei sapientia tum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quia est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aeterni Patris Luke 11. 49. Tum Revelata quia in Christi cognitione salutaris sapientia est sita Par. is approved and greedily embraced with great spiritual comfort and joy by the most holy Professors zealous Ministers and fervent Proselytes of the Gospel this day must needs call Christ its Author and must needs be the institution of him who is the wisdom of the Father 1 Cor. 1. 24. Nay that day which is disputed against cavilled at withstood and prophaned by the most carnal ungodly corrupt and vain persons must needs be the appointment of the Holy One as Christ is called Psal 16. 10. Now such a day is our Lords day A cloud of witnesses might here be raised to attest this undeniable assertion but the mouth of constant experience hath spoken it and what need we of any further witnesses Chemnitius hath a notable descant upon Luke 8. 22. Sic paulatim discipulos suos Christus deducere et docere voluit ad dici dominicae observantiam et demonstrare quae sit vera illius sanctificatio nimirum quando ex verbo ipsius praecipua ejus opera quae illo ipso die diversis temporibus in mundo ad salutem humani generis edidit consideramus et de illis disserimus Qualia sunt opera creationis cujus initium factâ—m est hoc ipso die Opus Redemptionis quod etiam hoc ipso die perfectum est opus sanctifiâ—â—tionis quâ—â— etiam hoc 〈◊〉 coelitus â—â—â—sso sp 〈◊〉 â—â—choatum est Deinde etiam quando falsa doctrina lâ—xatur vitia corriguntur securitas sâ—ctaâ—â—rum verbi retunditur Pietas ex vâ—rbo dei plantatur c. Chemnit where Christ is said to launch forth with his Disciples upon the first day of the week which is now our Christian Sabbath Christ by degrees saith he draweth his Disciples to the observation of the Lords day and would by little and little instruct them wherein the true sanctification of it did consist viz. In a serious consideration and discourse of those works which God wrought upon that day for the benefit of Mankind and for the good of his Church such as the work of Creation which was began on that day Gen. 1. 1. Such as the work of Redemption which was finished on that day John 20. 1. Nay such as the work of Sanctification On that day the Holy Ghost descended visibly on the blessed Apostles Acts 2. 1 2. not only as the result of the promise before or as a token of honour which God put upon his blessed Apostles but as an earnest of that plenteous
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