CHAP. I. An Introduction to the Text.

IN this Chapter we have God unmasking and reproving the Jewes Hyprocrisie in their worship and holy Services; indeed in the former Chapter, the Lord had by his Pro­phet fore-told, that the penitent and the upright of the Jewes should return from the Captivity, their Chains should be knock't off, and their Captivity should be turned as Rivers in the South, as the [Page 2] Psalmist speaks; but as for the wicked, no peace should be Psal. 126. 4. to them, the 21 Verse of the former Chapter, tempest and tumult shall be their Companions, and they shall be tossed continually from one calamity to another: Now the wic­ked and hypocritic [...] Jews, supposing that the observation of Dayes, their frequenting of Ordinances, their waiting on Solemnities, would reconcile them to God again, and make up the breach their sins had caused; they set upon this design, and multiply their duties, as fast as they did their sins, none so often on their knees as themselves; they ply God with Ceremonials, to make amends for their neg­lect of Morals; and because they were irreligious in their practices, they will be over-religious in their Observations: But God in this Chapter where the Text ly [...], unravels their folly, and discovers their vanity; Alas, it is not the outward Worship, or the external attendance on an Ordi­nance, can either pacifie the anger, or procure the favour of God, no more then a painted Cloud can dissolve into rain, or the sign of the Sun cast forth refreshing beams. Duties which are the products of hypocrisie, onely the shining of that paint, they may provoke, but not put out wrath, may inflame, but not quench that fire. So that in this Chapter we find God uttering his complaints against these painted hypocrites, these earlier Pharisees, who vainly dreamed to take off the edge of Gods fury by an over-plus of Service, when by these smooth pretences they onely brought Oyl to make the fire of his Wrath to burn with a greater flame: But yet this Chapter shall not be shut up without the allay of two sweet promises, the first made to Charity, the best of duties, 10, 11. Verses; the second made to a Holy Observa­tion of the Sabbath, the best of dayes, Verse 13, 14. And thus much may serve as a manuduction to lead you to the Text.

CHAP. II. The Explication of the Text.

IN the Text we have two remarkable Parts:

1 An Eminent Duty enjoyned. Duties they are the Cords of a man, to use the Prophets Phrase, by which we are Hos. 11. 4. sweetly drawn nearer to God, they are our Travel to­wards Canaan: While we are in a way of duty, we are in Bona opera sunt via ad Reg­num. our way to the Kingdome. Holy Duties are our spiri­tual intercourse, our traffique with Heaven: and such a duty is enjoyned in the Text.

2 A Precious promise entailed on the accomplishing and right acting of this duty, and indeed God doth not usually send our duties (when duly performed) empty away. Du­ties Evangelically acted, they are like Noahs Dove with the Gen. 8. 11. Gen. 44. 2. branch in her mouth; like Benjamins sack with the silver Cup in the top of it. God will not leave unrewarded the sweat of the soul. But of these in their order.

For the Duty it self, in the whole of it, is a spiritual observation of the Sabbath. The Sabbath day, as God or­dained it for his own Rest, so it must be observed for his own Honour. The Sabbath is Gods by his own Institution, and by our sanctification: As we receive it from God, so we must keep it to God. But in the Text there are many branches sprouting from this common stock; God directs us many wayes, and in many methods, how to observe his Sabbath: and we will trace and open these Directions in an orderly progress and proceeding. These Directions they are partly negative, and partly positive.

These Negative Directions call us from some practices which are prohibited, and from some language which must be restrained.

Now there are four sorts of actions we must be abstemious from upon the Sabbath, or, to speak in Gospel language, upon the Lords Day.

CHAP. III. Secular and servile works utterly unlawfull on the Sabbath day.

1 ACcording to the Text, we must abstain ab actionibus civilibus, from Civil Actions, from the works of our Secular actions to be forborn on the Sab­bath day; we are in no wise to follow the works of our Calling. Alap. Callings, the Shop, and the Change-business must be laid aside on a Sabbath; so the Text, If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath. Now Alapide gives us the ge­nuine interpretation of that phrase, Omne opus servile, quod pedibus fit, aut manibus, hic erat prohibitum; All ser­vile works which the feet or hands accomplish, is here pro­hibited. Indeed the feet are quick and ready to prosecute the gains of the World, and therefore here we are com­manded to keep our feet from being exercised in servile or secular imployments on this Holy Day; not any work must [...]xod. 20. 10. be done, saith God in the fourth Commandment, a Com­mandment in which we may truly-say, digitus Dei, the Exod. 31. 18. Finger of God. We must not mingle the Week with the Sabbath. Oecolampadius well descants on this phrase in Oecolamp. in hunc locum. Judas Mac­chab. We are to abstain from all ser­vile work, that having no work of our own, we may be whol­ly taken up with Gods work, that he may speak with us, and reveal himself fully and fa­miliarly to us, as friends do when they get alone, Shep. p. 84. the Text, Si quicquam rerum tuarum in Sabbatho, if thou hast appointed to do any of thy works upon the Sabbath, and shalt draw thy foot away from the Sabbath, intermi­seris illud opus propter Sabbathum, that is, shalt intermit and lay aside that work for the Sabbath-sake, because of the Sabbath, in remembrance of the Sabbath, then thou shalt sanctifie the Sabbath, for such a Sabbath is accepta­ble to God. Whatsoever work we have purposed, we must break it off, and turn our feet from it upon a Sabbath. One well observes, that Judas Macchabaeus, whom God raised up for the defence of his People against the Tyranny of Antiochus, that he having a great Victory against Nicanor and his Host, and putting to the sword nine thousand, and chasing away the rest the day before the Sabbath; af­ter that they had gathered the spoyle together, they did rest upon the Sabbath, and praised God for the Victory; and after the Sabbath was past, then they took order for [Page 5] the dividing of the spoyle. Indeed should we labour upon Prohibeturopus nostrum, scil. servile, me­chanicum, la­boriosum, quae­stuosum, & or­dinarium, tum privatum, tum publicum, quae cum prohibita fuerint in festis aliis solenniori­bus. Lev. 23. 7, 8, 25, 32, 35. Num. 28. 25. Multo magis Sabbatho, Leid. Prof. Luke 23. 56. Psal. 1. 2. the Sabbath day, this would breed confusion, and confound Gods day with ours: we labour six dayes, and should we labour on the seventh, where is the distinction? this is to mingle light and darkness, and to abolish the Sabbath, name and thing. The Sabbath is the Souls Monopoly; then we must not labour with our hands, but with our hearts, and not seek the gains of the Earth, but the Kingdome of Heaven; we must not then follow our Callings, but our Christ. Mary Magdalen, and Mary the Mother of James, would not prepare odours to annoin [...] Christs body when he was dead on the Sabbath day, but rested that day, least while they went about to Embalm his body, they might in­deed eclipse his Glory. On this day Physicians must not stu­dy Galen, nor Philosophers Aristotle, nor Mathematicians Archimedes, but their delight must be in the Law of the Lord. The Sabbath is sanctum otium, a holy leasure to pur­sue Eternity. We must so give rest to our bodies and our souls upon this day, that nothing trouble us; for here we must take up that of the Philosopher, Postulandum secessum, Toto hoc die vacandum Do­mino. ut melius intendamus, we must have our repose, that we may the better intend the great work of our souls; and therefore not onely worldly cares, but worldly businesses are forbidden, that so our whole body may be at command to serve God. It is most eminently remarkable, that we have in the Scriptures six Commandments for the observa­tion of this Rest.

1 In Exod. 16. 22. The Israelites were to cease from ga­thering Manna on that day; They were to gather a double measure on the day before, that they might not be diverted to gather any on the Sabbath day. On this day, you have mercatur animae, merchandise for your souls, wherein are bet­ter things then Manna to be gathered; Manna not like Co­riander Joh. 6. 53. 1 Pet. 2. 3. seed, Exod. 16. 31. but Manna which is the seed of the Word, which is able to save our souls.

2 In Nehem. 13. 15, 16, 17. Where holy Nehemiah forbids all Traffique on the Sabbath day; Indeed the Sabbath is the market-day for the Soul, (as Mr. Rogers used to call it) [Page 6] but other markets on this day, are not the supplies of provision, but of profanation; in other merchandizing we treasure up, not wealth, but wrath.

3 In Jer. 17. 22. There must be no carriage of burthens on this day, such servile employments are black spots upon the feast of a Sabbath; It is most uncouth and unseemly that I should be tiring out my body; on that day which is given Jer. 17. 27. me for the strengthning of my soul. The Sabbath is not the bodies Term, but the souls holy Vacation, it's consecra­ted leisure to look after its blessedness.

4 No not in harvest [...]ime must we labour on a Sabbath, when Nature it self would go a gleaning, and be busie with Joseph to bring the grain into the store-house; and al­though Gen. 41. 56. Deus nullam dispensationem admittit; etiam cum periculo communis jactu­rae. Calv. in Loc. the uncertainty of the season, the necessity of the Commodity, and the sweetness of the grain, all plead for a toleration in this matter, yet it must not be, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it, Exod. 34. 21. Nature, like Naaman, might here say, only spare me in this thing, 2 King. 5. 18. but Gods positive Law gives no dispensation.

5 There must be no journeying on this day; all our travels must be the travels of the mind; our journey must be to Canaan, with our faces towards Sion: thus God expresly, Exod. 16. 29. Obj. And as for the Objection of a Sabbath days journey, Acts 1. 12.

Sol. To that it may be replyed, That the Text answers it self; for the distance allowed to travel on the Sabbath is very small, no further then Mount Olivet from Jerusalem, an in­considerable distance: Learned men differ in the interpre­tation, but all agree in this, that it was a very small di­stance. Calvin saith it was two miles, and of that judge­ment Calv. in hunc Locum. Aliquantulam itineris facere, non erat contrà traditiones Phorisaeorium, Chemnit. are the most of the Latin Interpreters. Tremellius in the Syriac Paraphrase readeth the Text thus, The Mount of Olives which is near unto Jerusalem, and is distant from it about seven furlongs, that is not a mile; And that learn­ed man observes, that the Jews in their Talmud with one consent say, that the space which it was lawful for a man to go upon the Sabbath was two thousand Cubits or Spaces, which make but one mile, and not two. And Beza very well Beza. [Page 7] notes, That all the Hebrews, whose testimony is most au­thentical in this case, make a Sabbath dayes journey only one mile. Josephus, who was very well acquainted with the Joseph. Antiq. Lib. 20. place, counted Mount Olive but five furlongs from the City. But to dilate no further, we may conclude with holy Mr. Greenham, That this journey was no farther then one might conveniently travel for some holy purpose, without hinderance of the ordinary exercises of this day, or without wearisomness either to body or mind, whereby he should be unfitter for the Lords Worship, or his own Duties.

6 Not so much as to build Gods House, though of very great use, and great haste of it, Exod. 31. 14, 15. a most signal Text, compare it with the foregoing verses; not any work is indulged, though Gods house should call for it. The Sabbath calls for Worship, not Work, for the Service of the Sanctuary, not for the Building of it.

Obj. And now if the poor man shall bring his Plea, and urge the necessities of his Condition, and that he cannot spare the time of a Sabbath, but must work upon that day to sa­tisfie the clamours and importunities of his family; Sol. this Answer must be put unto this Plea:

saith in Deut. 5. 14. On the Sabbath thou shalt not do any Shall the Worm debate it with the Almighty? The Lord work. 1 Is not this to impeach the wisdome of the Law-gi­ver, Deut. 5. 14. as if all cases did not fall under his consideration? The Fourth Commandment is a Commandment overflowing with mercy; God considers and compassionates Children, Servants, and Strangers, nay, the very Beasts of the Field, the Oxe and the Asse; and the poor mans case should not have been left out, had divine wisdome thought a dispen­sation necessary; he should have been left to his work, as well as the stranger left to his rest.

2 It is the blessing of the Lord makes Rich, as the wise man speaks, Prov. 10. 22. And what can entail this blessing on Lev. 25. 3, 4. comp. with Vers. 18, 19, 20, 21. thee but obedience? Thy Duty shall more prosper thy E­state then thy Work: Can'st thou possibly be endammag'd by keeping of the Commandments, which Solomon makes the sum of all Religion and Happiness? Eccles. 12. 13. To [Page 8] which the Psalmist fully accords, Psal. 19. 11. The best way to sill thy Cruse, is to fulfill Gods Commands. Godliness hath the promise of the things of this life. 1 Tim. 4. 8.

3 To disobey the Command in working on a Sabbath, is the only method to drive thee to greater exigence. Disobe­dience, like intemperance, shall cloath thee with rags: Pro­phanation Prov. 23. 21. of the Sabbath will be a certain moth in the little thou enjoyest.

This is to fill thy bag, not with Coyne, but with Curses; And as the wise man, There shall be no reward for the evil Prov. 24. 20. man, Prov. 24. 20. To rob God of his time is such a piece of sacriledge, as will assuredly fill thy bags with holes, which Hag. 1. 6. will hold no wages.

4 Hath not the poor man a soul to look after? and when shall he lay up provisions for this piece of eternity, his pre­cious soul, but onely on a Sabbath? He cannot spare time on the week, and shall his soul have no time at all? Shall the soul which is more worth then a world, not be worth that little pittance he gets by working on a Sabbath? The Mat. 16 26. poor man pretends necessity, certainly he hath the greatest necessity to look after his immortal soul; to feed his family will he starve his soul?

5 The just man lives by faith, whether he be rich or poor: and surely that faith runs dregs which will not trust God Hab. 2. 4. for the provisions of a day; and how irrational is it not to trust that God who could send a Raven to feed Elijah! dost 1 Kings 17. 4. thou not know the Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof? Psal. 24. 1. And cannot he furnish thy Table for a Sabbath thou hast spent with him?

6 And will thy poor Earnings on a Sabbath compensate the prejudice thy soul endures? Whilst thou hast been labour­ing for [...]he meat that perisheth, thou mightest have gained that John 6. 27. Omne studium, & omne, cona­tus eò confera­mus, ut habea­mus non ex­terna & cor­ruptibil [...] hujus mundi bona, sed ut habeamus cibum, qui non ipse tantum permanet, sed etiam affert vi­tam aeternam. Chemnit. Amos 2. 6. meat which endureth to everlasting life. Shall the gain of a penny, or some inconsiderable profit, with draw thee from pursuing thy spiritual good on thy souls market day; Thy gain on this day may be as the God of the Tholouse, which was fatal to all who stole of it; or as the Coal brought to the nest, setting the young and all on fire.

The Sabbath, as one saith, is the School day, the Faire day, the Feasting day of the soul, and the body is little in­terested in the affairs of it; this holy day is the souls har­vest, and not set apart for the gleanings of the world: and thus while the poor man works on the Sabbath, he sells himself for a pair of shooes; a little to invert the Prophet.

7 And Reverend Mr. Calvin observes, This is onely a wile of Satan, for saith he, All of us naturally are of that mind, that if we endeavour to mount on high to the heavenly life, and bestow our studies therein, we think we shall dye for hunger, and this shall be to turn us from our Profits and Commodities: And indeed the Devil cometh alwayes to perswade us under this Calvin on Deut 5. Serm. 35. shadow and wiliness, that if we employ our selves in the service of God, we must needs dye of famine, and we shall live to be the objects of others pity, for our meanness and misery. Thus far that holy man, who presently adds; Of a truth we cannot serve God, unless we cast away from us these distrustfull cares, Lev. 25. 20, 21. Mat. 6. 33. 1 Tim. 4. 8. Pietas habet promissionem vitae quae nunc est, ut scilicet hîc vitam pa­catam, & lon­gaevam, & re­bus omnibus necessariis in­structum aga­mus. Alap. Jer. 25. 20, 21. Exod. 16. 22. Sex [...]â die deus pluit Manna ab [...]ndè, ut toti populo suffi [...]e­ret ad biduum, Riv. Haec sun [...] [...]era tenebrarum, carnis, Buc de Regno Christi Lib. 2. Cap. 10. which press us over much. And how doth this unholy distrust, which often draws the offendor to a breach of the Sabbath, contradict those indulgent promises of the Scripture, both under the Law, and in the times of the Gospel; where the giving Religion and our Souls the precedency, is ensured not only of a better portion in future Glory, but of a satis­fying provision even in this Life. And to wind up this par­ticular; The Jews of old enjoyed a special promise, that no lack should come to them by their resting on the Sabbath; and God gave them a sure pledge in the Wilderness, when on the day before the Sabbath, a double portion of Manna was given to all that gathered, Exod. 16. 22. Nor can the promise be straitned to believers under the Gospel. And so we have at last done with the poor mans Plea, leaving him for the future to act his Faith, and study Obedience, rather then frame his Apologies.

Labouring on a Sabbath in the works of our Calling, or in any other unnecessary toyle, is a practise so manifestly sin­full, that it is not only prohibited by the Great Law-giver in the Fourth Commandment, in the times of the Law, but it is likewise forbidden by all Authority, both Civil and Ec­clesiastical, [Page 10] in the times of the Gospel. Constantine the great Constant. Mag. (who deserved that noble Title, more for his Religion, then his Victories) sets out a pious Edict to this purpose, strictly forbidding all secular labour on the Lords day. The very words of the Statute are these; He commands that every one Statuit, ut cur­cti Romano Im­perio subditi, diebus de Ser­vatoris nomine nuncupatis, ab opere feria­rentur. Euseb. Lib. 4. de vitâ Con­stantini. c. 18. 2 Pet. 2. 13. Jud. vers. 12. Car. Magn. Leges Eccle­siast. lib. 6. cap. 202. Lud. Pius, ib. addition. c. 9. Leo Philos. who lived in the Roman Empire should rest from labour that day weekly, which was instituted to our Saviour; and more­over, that all Judges, Citizens, Artificers, should rest on the Sabbath. Thus this holy Emperour, who first brought rest to the Churches, for a long time scorcht with persecution, and discomposed by Pagan fury, takes care that the Sabbath be not prophaned by servile works, which are truly spots in that holy feast. Charles the Great, Anno Dom. 789. not willing to blemish his Title, the same with Constantine's, speaks Constantine's language, (Viz.) We do ordain, as it is commanded in the Law of God, that no man do any servile work on the Lords day: And this he explicates in several par­ticulars, (Viz.) Husbandry, dressing Vines, Ploughing, &c. and almost all kind of Manufactures. And the words of Leo Philosophus, the noble Emperour of Constantinople, in his pi­ous Edict for the better observation the Lords day, are very memorable, (Viz.) We ordain, according to the true meaning of the Holy Ghost, and of the Holy Apostles by him directed, That on that sacred day, wherein we are restored to our intogri­ty, all do rest and surcease from labour, that neither the Hus­bandman nor others, put their hands to forbidden work, &c. I might mention Clothaire King of France, Gunthram, and many other Princes, expressing the same zeal to the Sab­bath, but it would be altogether supervacaneous; onely let me not denude our own English Princes of their just and due Honour in this particular. King James of famous memory, 15 James. at his first entrance into his Kingdome, he sent out his De­claration to this effect, (Viz.) That for the better obser­vation of the Sabbath day, he straitly charges, That there be no Interludes, Pastimes, unlawful exercises on the Sabbath day. And King Charles the First, he enacts a Law in his 15 Charles. first Parliament, That there be no Pastimes, no Carrier, Wag­goner, Drover, travel on the Lords day, no Butcher kill or sell [Page 11] any Victual on the said day, &c. Thus the English Throne hath not been devoid of necessary Zeal, for the suppression of unnecessary toyle on the Lords day.

And labouring on the Lords day hath not onely been con­demned by Civil, but by Ecclesiastical Authority; both swords have been drawn against this practice. And Ecclesiastical Authority hath condemned it: Take it distributively for eminent persons, Zerubbabels, who have been famous in build­ing the Temple in the primitive times. Origen thus expresses his holy fervour for the Sabbath, and for the cessation from Die dominico nihil ex mundi actibus agen­dum, & ex om­nibus seculari­bus operibus feriandum est. Orig. Homil. 23 in numer. Augustine. fervile or secular works on that day; On the Christian Sab­bath day we ought not to do any worldly business; If therefore thou dost surcease from all secular affairs, and dost nothing but imploy thy self in spiritual negotiations, this is the right obser­vation of the Christian Sabbath. Thus this mirrour of piety and learning. And Augustine, the miracle of the fifth Centu­ry, in one of his Sermons thus declares himself; You must know Brethren that therefore it was appointed and commanded Christians by our Holy Fathers, That in the Solemnities of the Saints, and especially on the Lords dayes, they should rest and be free from earthly businesses, that so they might be more free and ready for the service of God, when they have nothing to hinder them, and might leave earthly cares, that they might the more easily intend the will of God. Chrysostome calls the abstinence from worldly affairs on the Sabbath, [...], [...]. Chrys. Hom. 5. in Matt. Greg. of Tours. Dies Sabbaths indeterminatè sumptus, est dies requiei. Alex. Hal. an unmoveable Law, such a Law as nothing but Sacriledge and Irreligion can shake or suppress; we must on this day [...], abstain from all works, saith that golden mouth'd Father. And if we come to the midle times of the Church, the Sabbath still is fenced with the same cautions, that no work be done thereon. Gregory of Tours hath an excellent saying, Being the Sab­bath was the day whereon God made the Light, and after was the witness of our Saviours Resurrection, therefore it ought di­ligently to be observed by every Christian, no manner of pub­lick work to be done upon it. And the same Author tells us a story of a fearfull judgement of Lightning which befell the City of Limoges, ob diei dominici injuriam, for prophaning [Page 12] the Lords day. And another Gregory of a far greater fame, Greg. Mag. (viz.) Gregory the Great, speaks the same language, (Viz.) We ought to rest on the Lords day from earthly labours, and altogether give our selves to prayer. And if we slide down to our dayes, and the dayes of reformation, servile works on the Sabbath incur the same censure. If we call in the Testimony of forraign Divines: Doctor Ames, that pious Ames Mod. Theol. p. 364. and learned Divine observes, That all servile works were to be abstained from in other festivals among the Jewes, Lev. 23. 7, 8. Numb. 28. 25. Multò magis exclusa fuerunt à Sab­batho, Exod. 12. 16. Much more on the sacred Sabbath. Other forraign Testimonies might be subpaena'd in, to give witness in this Cause; but the Reader shall not be cloyed with a multipli­city of Quotations. Onely as forraigners, So our own Di­vines give in their suffrage to the same truth. Famous Hoo­per, Bishop and Martyr, thus declares himself; To that end Bish. Hooper. did God sanctifie the Sabbath day, that we being free from the travels of the World, might consider his works and benefits with thanksgiving, hear the word of God, honour him, and fear him, &c. And holy Babington most pathetically; Even as Bish. Babington on the fourth Command­ment. you will answer it before the face of God and his Angels at the sound of the last trumpet, weight whether Carding and Di­cing, &c. and such exercises, be commanded of God for the Sab­bath: And thus this Godly Bishop restrains the Sabbath to its own (viz.) spiritual work.

2 Not onely the Church distributive, but the Church col­lective condemns labouring on the Lords day: Many fa­mous Councils have decried and prohibited this un­comly practice. The famous Council of Mascon gives a se­vere prohibition to secular employments on this holy day, in these words, Let no man meddle with litigious controversies Concil. Moscon. Concil. Cartha. Concil. Chalons or works of Husbandry on the Lords day, but exercise himself in Hymns and singing praises unto God, being intent thereon hoth in mind and body, and much more to the same purpose. I could name the Council of Carthage, the Council of Cha­lons, and others; but this truth shall stand no longer before humane Tribunal.

Nay, the great taking argument of Reason, the Idol and Diana of most men, joynes in the Verdict, for the guiltiness and condemnation of labours and working in our Callings on the Lords day.

Servile and secular labours are too pedantick and low for 2 Cor. 6. 14. [...]. Chrysost. the dignity of a Sabbath; as the Apostle speaks, What com­munion between light and darkness? and what between the drudgeries of the world, and the affairs of Heaven? The Sab­bath must not be degraded by servilities and low employ­ments; it was appointed for more noble undertakings, it was set apart for Divine contemplations, heavenly actions, spiritual ordinances, supernatural converses between Christ and the Soul, and not for the culinary sweats of an empty, any world. To work on the Sabbath, what is it but to plece a Silken garment with Canvas? Greenham formerly complained, There are many who make the Lords day a pack­ing day for earth, and make it a custome to have their Servants follow their Callings; but these men act as Heathens, who ne­ver Greenham's Treatise on the Sabbath. p. 215. knew any thing of the Creation of Heaven and Earth by God, nor never heard any thing of the Redemption of man by Christ, nor ever tasted any thing of the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost.

Reas. 2 Worldly labours they tend nothing at all to the worship of God, they are onely sinfull and unseasonable divertise­ments. Can we be intent on the works of our Calling, and yet at the same time our heads fill'd with divine meditati­ons, our hearts breaking with holy affections, our tongues employed in sacred devotions? surely this would speak us more then men, and it is but a mear dream to fancy such Veniendum est ad coenam a peccatis sur­gendum, & in vale dicendum, Christus fide est amplecten­dus, & nova vita inchoanda Chemn. nimbleness and agility: Worldly affairs will take the soul off from heavenly employment, they are contraries in them­selves. The Shop-board and the Church cannot unite. Drossie avocasions will call us off from spiritual devotions. The guests who were invited to the Supper, if they will mind their secular affairs they cannot come to the Supper; they cannot mind their Oxen and their Farmes and the Sup­per too, and therefore they must be excused from the Luke 14. 16, 18, 19. one. Such men who work on the Lords day (a holy man [Page 14] saith) their hearts are possessed with covetousness, their minds Doctor G. are filled with the affairs of the world; and what shall God have if their hearts and their minds are alienated to another Aug. de temp. Serm. 251. purpose? Augustine saith, We are commanded to rest upon the Lords day from earthly business, and he gives us this rea­son, That we might be the more fit for Gods service. And so Calvin upon Deut. Cap. 5. Serm. 34. Calvin, We ought to cease from those works which hinder the works of God: Let us not stay from calling upon his Name, or exercising our selves in his Holy Word. Now secular affairs Concil. Arelat. 4. Cap. 16. a [...] Est omnis ces­satio ab opere, & quies, scil. à motu & la­bore. Leid. Prof. 218. Joh. 3. 8. Exod. 34. 6. Exod. 35. 2. Sabbathum propriè quie­tem, et vaca­tionem ab opere servili signifi­cat, quod deus in ipsâ mundi origine quieti sarctae conse­cravit. Gualt. Sabbathum, Domini Sabba­thum dicitur in scripturis, Exod. 16. 20 Lev. 19. 26. Eò quod deo consecratum est, et iis studiis quae ad dei ho­norem spectant, Id. 1 Kings 6. 7. Exod. 13. 2. would keep us, and chain us up from such seraphical and heavenly duties. And the Council of Arles, which was ce­lebrated under Charles the Great, speaks to the same pur­pose, concluding, Let those things onely be done on the Sab­bath, which appertain to the Service of God.

Nay, secular works, and the works of our Calling, upon the Sabbath, they illegitimate and contradict the very name of a Sabbath, [...] which signifies quietness, and rest, a cessation from labour; it is nothing more then a denyal of toyle: so that when we labour on the Sabbath, we do but rough this calme and quiet day, which is given us to hear Gods still voice, when the spirit, that wind, blows gently, yet powerfully in the dispensation of the word. God will have his own Name known, that he is a God of mercy and pu­rity, and he will have the name of his Sabbath known to be a day of quiet and cessation, and therefore it is called a Sab­bath of Rest, Exod. 35. 2. That if we at the first view did not understand the meaning of the word Sabbath, Moses Comments on it, and gives us an explanation, it is a Sab­bath of Rest, a meer Hebraisme, when Sabbath and Rest are the same thing, and in the Original the word is onely re­peated, for it is [...] And as in the building of the Temple of the Lord, so in the keeping of the Sabbath of the Lord, there must be no hammer heard, no axe, no noise of working instruments, or secular employments.

4. Labouring in our callings on a Sabbath, doth not only deny the name of the Sabbath, but subverts the manner of its observation, which is by sanctifying it: The Sabbath must be kept holy, so in the forementioned place, Exod. 35. 2. [Page 15] so in the fourth Commandment, Exod. 20. 8. Now [...] Cadash, sanctifie, a word used in both these Texts, and ma­ny Exod. 40. 10. [...] Restaurari ad sanctum usum, Buxtorf. Sanctificare, idem est, quod ad usus sanctos applicare, ceu adhibere, Wal. diss. de quarto Praecepto. De modo san­ctificationis duo dicuntur; primum, opera propria cujus (que) sex diebus clau­duntur; deinde opera Divina, hoc die omni­bus praescri­buntur, Idem. other places, it signifies the separation of any thing to a holy use. So the first born among the Israelites were sancti­fied to God, the same word [...] Cadash there, they were consecrated and set apart to God. So the vessels in the San­ctuary were sanctified, (Viz.) they were set apart for the worship and service of God. So the Temple was sanctified, 1 Kings 9. 3. in the same sence. So that whatsoever is hal­lowed and sanctified, is set apart for holy use, by the Will and Commandment of God. And that great School-man, Thomas Aquinas speaks to the same purpose, Illa dicuntur lege sanctificari, quae divino cultui applicantur, Those things are sanctified in the Law, which were dedicated to Gods Worship. So then working on the Sabbath overthrows this [...] Ca­dash, this sanctifying it, it diverts that day to our own use, which is sanctified, separated onely to a divine use. Secu­lar works oppose the very purpose of the word sanctifying, they rob God of his time dedicated to holy use, and give it to the Labourer, to him who works, which is both impu­dence, and sacriledge; Labouring casts [...] Cadash, san­ctifie, out of the fourth Commandment, and alters the will of the great Legislator, it layes waste, and makes common the holy day which God hath limited and inclosed to an holy use.

5 And it is remarkable, that the observation of the Sab­bath is never urged by Moses or the Prophets, but rest and Exod. 35. 2. Exod. 31 14. Deut. 5. 14. Jer. 17. 27. Qui [...]quid ali­quam speciem haberet operum servilium pro­hibebatur in Sabbato. Rivet. cessation is commanded too, Exod. 35. 2. It is called a Sab­bath of rest, Exod. 31. 14. Thou shalt do no manner of work. The same strictly enjoyned, Deut. 5. 14. and so Jer. 17. 27. So that God hath put rest and cessation from secular employments into the very nature and essence of the Sabbath, he hath engraven rest upon the Sabbath in an indelible Cha­racter, that you cannot abstract it from the Sabbath with­out an abolition of the Law it self. If you will keep a Sab­bath, keep it free from worldly labours, or never set upon the observation of it.

6 Rest is as necessary for us, as for former times, for the holy [Page 16] sanctification of the Sabbath; our bodies are subject to Mat. 26. 41. Exod. 23. 12. Recreabitur alie [...]gena, muliò magis in­cola. Ne [...]ontinu [...]s labor [...]b [...] s [...]i [...] ­gent [...]r ho­mines, sea fessa memb a l [...]ven­tur die S [...]b­b [...]thi. Leid. Prof. Exod. 31. 17. [...] respiravit deus. Corpus nostrum mortale est, in quo brevi tem­pore, tanquam in tabernaculo moramur. Alap. in Co­rinth. tiredness, our spirits to faintness, our flesh to weariness, as well as those who lived in former ages; and therefore are not we as much necessitated to a quietation and rest from la­bours? Christ may say to us as well as to the Apostles, The flesh is weak, though the spirit may be willing; we are clogged with as many weaknesses, and disinabled by as many infir­mities as former times, and therefore Thou shalt do no manner of work. That blessed indulgence and dispensation, grant­ed in the fourth Commandment, cannot but be as pleasing and gratefull to us, as others in the elder dayes of the world. Shall the Jewes observe an exact rest on the Sabbath, and not we Christians? Are our Tabernacles of clay better fixed then theirs? Our tired bodies require a cessation from la­bours to attend on the Divine Services of the Sabbath.

7 The main ground of Gods first institution of the Sabbath was rest from his works, (Viz.) the works of Creation; and the main cause of the re-institution of the Sabbath, (if I may so speak) in the change of the day from the Seventh to the First, was Christ's resting from his work (Viz.) the great work of Redemption. The very reason of the Law and Statute concerning the Sabbath, condemns secular labours and business this day. A Quietus est first started the Law it self, and a Quietus est must keep the Law now setled and Gen. 2. 3. Humano more, e [...] quad mat­temperatione ad nestram in­stitutionem lo­quitur scriptura Divina, &c Quievit deu [...], substitit, cessa­vit a procrean­dis producen­dis (que) rebus ex nihilo. ut es­sent. Chrysost. established.

8 Rest from our labours is part of our inheritance above, whereof our Sabbath is but a sign and pledge. When we come to glory, we shall cease from all sweat and painfulness; and as there shall be no tears lying upon our cheeks, so there shall be no sweat bedewing our brows; Our toile shall be turned into triumph, our pains into pleasure, our industry into-rest, our hard labours into soft loves, and glorious re­wards; and therefore Lazarus lies in Abrahams hosome, a place not of sweat but repose; and all this our present Sab­bath is but a harbinger of: So the working upon a Sabbath, doth not onely destroy the Observation of it, which is to be Rev. 14. 13. The holy rest of the Sabbath is the twi­light, and dawning of heaven. Shep. Treatise of the Sab­bath, p. 79. Luke 16. 23. Sabbathum nostrum, perpetuum illum caelestem Sabbatismum, conse­quentem, et perfectum figurat, ubi fideles à propriis, malis (que) operibus sint in aeternum feriantes. Leid. Prof. with no manner of work, but the very significancy of it. Working on this day eclipses the Sabbath, as it is our earnest [Page 17] of a better rest, and undervalues this noble end of a Sabbath, finis sublimior, as some call it, to represent the perpetual sabba­tisme the Saints shall enjoy in a better place and state.

9 Let us consider the equitableness of mans resting from worldly labours on the Lords day. Shall Man, that frail piece of dust, be like a Salamander, alwayes in the fire of toyle and painfulness? Shall there be no time for him to interferiate and feast with God, and consecrate himself to Exod. 31. 17. holy observances? God was refreshed on the Sabbath (as was hinted before) and shall trembling flesh have no leisure Omnis actio de [...] nobis pietatis, et virtutis regula est. Basil. to pause, and walk with Christ in his ordinances? Doth devout sequestration to pious and holy exercises no way belong to him? Or shall God in the fourth Commandment, that grand Charter of the Sabbath, take care for the repose Quia durabile non est, quod requie earet; otium quoddam sanctum deus praecepit, ut in­satiabilem ho­minum cupidi­tatem frae naret, qui tam seipsos, quam servos suos, nimiis la­boribus exhau­riunt, modò lu­crum faciunt. Gualt. of the Oxe, and the Ass, the beasts that perish, as the Psal­mist speaks, Psal. 49. 20. and no care of Man, that sub­lime piece in the Creation, which is little lower then the Angels? Psal. 8. 5. To conclude this large Argumenta­tion: The Labourer who defiles the Sabbath with his sweat, opposeth divine command, universal authority, and the dictates of sound Reason, which are the cords of a man.

But now for works of absolute necessity, which could nei­ther be done before the Sabbath, nor deferred till after, the case is far otherwise; here to labour is not our crime, but our duty. To breath a vein to one sick of a Plurifie, is the duty of a Sabbath; so to quench our neighbours house on fire, is our proper work on the Lords day; to stop inunda­tions Psal. 8. 5. of waters, which else would break forth to the pre­judice Hos. 11. 4. of the adjacent parts, this is not to defile, but to ho­nour Acts 20. 10. a [...]abbath. Paul on the Sabbath day uses means to re­cover Luke 13. 15. Lutichus, who was dead for the present. The Jewes Mat. 12. 5. in their greatest strictness were not so bound up, as not to do works of necessity: They might fight against their enemies on a Sabbath, take and destroy the Cities of their adversa­ries. [Page 18] Jericho is encompassed seven dayes, and taken the se­venth, Josh 6. 20. Excipiantur illa opera, quae sin­gulari aliquâ necessitate no­bis imponantur, quo in numero, illa non sunt ha­bend [...], quae ho­mines sibimet­ipsis, quasi ne­cessari: fingunt Ames. probably the Sabbath, Josh. 6. 20. which was no blemish to Israels Victory, but an inhancement to the praise of Israels God. Works of necessity they do sweeten, they do not soyle a Sabbath; they shew the love of God, they do not break the law of God. It no wayes hinders my Soul from being put in joynt upon the Lords day, because my leg is put in joynt, which was broken by a sad and afflictive pro­vidence. And works of necessity are secured from Sabbath-prophanation, by a four-fold warrant and dispensation.

1 Our Saviours holy example signs this dispensation, He wrought his cures on the Sabbath for the most part, Mat. 12. Luke 6. 10. Mark 3. 5. Mat. 2. 28. 13. and many other places. The wound should not bleed to death, because our Saviour would not act the Physician on this holy day. Christ who was the Lord of the Sabbath would oftentimes cause an Ordinance to wait on a Cure, and many times the Preacher must yield to the Physician: Our dear Lord well knew, a dying Patient was not fit to be a de­vout Worshipper.

2 The necessities of the Disciples being gratified, were no blemish to the holiness of the Sabbath; upon that day they Mat. 12. 1. Christus sumptâ occasione, ex discipulorum facto, viz. spi­carum fricati­one, et comes­sione factum il­lud defendit. Lysit. pluckt the eares of Corn. They carried bodies of clay about them, which must be shored up, or their souls would fly out at the cracks of them. If the glass be broken, the cordial will be spilt. Our bodies must be indulged, or our souls will be uncapable of services, or ordinances. Faint bodies are list­less to lively duties.

3 The very plea's of Reason have warranted a dispensation. Our Saviour urges three rare Arguments to indulge cases of necessity.

1 The first Argument is a majori from the stronger and more forcible inference, which argument we find, Luke 13. Luk. 13. 15. Verbis exprimi non potest quantum homo, qui ad imagi­nem dei conditus est, et pro quo unigenitus dei filius proprium suum sanguinem fudit, quem denique spiritus sanctus per verbum Evangelii ad communionem filiorum dei vocavit, et sanctificavit, ir­rationelibus animalibus praestat. Chem. 15. where our Saviour urges most sweetly and wisely, that if we can secure and take care of the beast on the Sabbath, [Page 19] man should not in his necessity be neglected on that holy day. Man is not onely more worth then many Sparrows, Mat. 10. 31. but then many Oxen or Asses, or more valuable Cattel. If the beast must be pluckt out of the ditch on a Sabbath, shall the plucking of a man from the jawes of death on that day be a polution of it? This Argument the great Master of the Assemblies is pleased to use, to indemnifie works of ne­cessity.

2 The second Argument is a meliori, from the better, which we find, Mark 3. 4. where our Saviour sharply expostu­lates, Mark 3. 4. Finis est prae­stantior medie; salus hominis est finis, propt [...]r quem Sabba­thum est insti­tutum. Par. and queries whether it be lawful or no, to do good on a Sabbath, whether good actions are not becoming a holy day; this must needs be undeniable. Now to cure a sick person, quench a burning-house, resist an incroaching adversary, they are actions immutably good, and therefore they must be so on a Sabbath. There is no time, when to save a dying person, can in it self be unlawfull; it is an obedience to the law of Nature, a compliance with those [...], common principles which are concreated with us. There­fore such actions cannot pollute the holy Sabbath, or de­floure the purity of it.

3 The third Argument our Saviour takes à potiori, from that which is more eligible, which is most fit to be done in case of a Dilemma, and this Argument is urged, Mat. 12. Mat. 12. 3, 4. Generalis est haec doctrina, non Davidem tantum ut san­ctum Regem, et Prophetam Do­mini licitè e­disse panes pro­positionis, quasi personale fuisset privilegium, sed e [...] famulos qui cum ipso erant, non peccasse manducando in casu necessitatis. Lyser. Mal. 4. 2. 3, 4. Our Saviour tells us, what David did in case of ne­cessity: It was far more eligible for David to make bold with the shew-bread, then for the holy Saint and King to die for hunger; his life was more considerable, then an appointed observation. A substantial good is more to be valued then a shadow, which onely signifies something to come, and would fly away at the rising of the Sun of Righteousness; and therefore as necessity intrenched on extraordinary food with­out blan [...]e, so it may presume on an extraordinary day with­out crime.

4 The light of Nature warrants a discharge, and gives in not guilty to works of necessity on the Sabbath. If my wound [Page 20] bleeds to death, because it is not dressed on the Sabbath; or my disease send me to the dust, because medicinal applica­tions are not made on the Sabbath, this is my errour, not my duty. If I have no being, God can have no worship, and so acts of necessity are dispensible. God will have us to worship him with all chearfulness and alacrity, which can­not be with an undrest wound, or a disease not to be lookt after, because it is the Sabbath. I cannot chearfully joyne in Divine Worship, and in the mean time the waters break into my house, and there must be no stoppage of them, be­cause the time of Gods holy day will not permit it. Cases therefore of indispensible necessity neither pollute nor pro­phane the Sabbath.

But to wind up this particular of working on a Sabbath, (which hath been the more copiously handled, because of the greatness of its importance) we read that the holy Apo­stle Paul sometimes laboured with his hands, but yet his Acts 20. 34. Acts 20. 7. 1 Cor. 16. 2. works on the Lords day were Sacred and Divine, nothing but preaching the Word, administring the Sacraments, pouring out his Soul in Prayer, taking care of the poor, and those duties which are the just companions of a Sabbath; He acts then not as a Tent-maker, but as an Apostle; his Acts 18. 3. heart works, not his hands. In a word, this particular shall be shut up with the confession of learned Master Breerwood, Breerw. Tract of the Sab­bath. p. 47. who improved so much parts and pains in asserting an un­due liberty on the Sabbath, yet we may hear him thus ac­knowledge; It is meet that Christians should on the Lords day abandon all worldly affairs, and dedicate it wholly to the honour of God. And one of our Church Homilies hath these words, Gods obedient people should use the Sunday holily, and Hom. Of the time [...] & place of worship. give themselves wholly to heavenly exercises of Gods true Reli­gion, and Service; and this was the practice of all Gods people in all ages: And so much for this large particular.

2 But secondly, there are a second sort of actions we must forbear on the Lords day, (viz.) Sensual actions, so the Sensual acti­ons to be for­born on the Sabbath day. Text, [from doing thy pleasure on my holy day.] We are to for­bear indulging our appetites; we must not please a wanton eye, or a luxurious palate on the Sabbath, which is a day not [Page 21] to feast the Body, but to feast the Soul. Feasts and Banquets are not the Celebration, but the Prophanation of a Sabbath; then our fat things must be the fat things of Gods house. Psal. 36. 8. Isa. 25. 6. A full, luxuriant table, where no necessity requires it, is fitter for the day of a Bacchus, then the day of Jehovah, who is all purity and perfection. A moderate repast for Nature doth best become the holy Sabbath.

The Disciples feed upon a few ears of Corn upon a Sab­bath. Mat. 12. 1. De caenâ nostrâ hoc dicendum est, nihil utili­tatis, nihil im­modestiae ad­mittit, non prius discumbi­tur, quam oratio ad deum prae­gustetur, editur quantum esuri­entes capiunt; bibitur quan­tum pudicis est utile, ita satu­rantur, ut qui meminerint e­tiam per noctem adorandum e­tiam esse doum; ita fabulantur, ut qui sciant dominum au­dire. Tertul. Exod. 16. 22, 23, 24, &c. Numb. 28. 10. Exod 35. 3. On this day a Table spread with dishes, is more spread with temptations: It is dangerous then to study to please a palate, when we are more especially to look after a soul. On this holy day the Word must be our food, tears must be our wine, singing of Psalms our musick, the San­ctuary our parlour and place of repast, and our festivity must be joy in the Lord; our eare must be taken up in holy at­tention, our heart in spiritual devotion, our eye in divine speculation. The Sabbath is the Souls, not the Senses fea­stival; then to please the curiosities of sense, is not to keep, but to lose the Sabbath. The Jewes had onely the usuall proportion of Manna for the Sabbath, they had no exceed­ings; and though they were to offer double Sacrifices on the Sabbath, they were not to eat double meals, to have an increase of outward provisions: They could not lawfully kindle any fire on the Sabbath; and surely those prepara­tions could not be plenteous, where there was no fire to make them. We Christians make the Sunday a day of spi­ritual rejoycing, saith Bishop White, and he quotes it out of Turtullian. Our pleasures on this day must not be in our Meats, but in our Messiah; not in our varieties, unless it be of Ordinances. Chrysostome reports, that the Love-Feasts of the Christians in the Primitive times, consisted of divers Viands, provided by a common purse and collati­on, of which they took as much as would suffice the Com­municants, Diem solis lae­titiae indulge­mus. Tertul, Chrysost. On the 1 Cor. Cap. 11. Hom. 27. and so celebrated the Lords Supper together, which done, they presently fell to the spare and slender chear, entertaining and solacing themselves with spiritual and divine Colloquies. And indeed here we have our pat­tern, in the purest times. The Golden Christians of the [Page 22] morning Sun of the Gospel were contented with spare and slender diet. St. Augustine observed a vanity among the Aug. in Prolog. 251. Serm. de tempore. Jewes, in his time, that they feasted much on the Sabbath, and therefore advises us To observe the Sabbath, not as the Jewes did, carnally, and with fleshly delicacies. And holy Ignatius, before him, much to the same purpose cryes out, Ignat. Epist. ad Magnesios. Procul abjici­enda sunt im­pura carnis opera, & insa­num voluptu­andi studium. Gualt. Phil. 3. 19. Amos 6. 4. and 6. Qui Sabbatho vitè utuntur, caetus sacros adeunt, Dei verbum audi­unt, voluntatem illius sedulò in­qui [...]unt, in ope­rum & bene­ficiorum ejus consideratione versantur, precibus vacant, deni (que) omissis omnibus, quae carni serviant se totos ad aeterni illius Sabbathi considerationem componunt. Gualt. We Christians must not keep our holy Sabbath after the manner of the prophane Jewes, with excessive feastings, &c. But it is much to be feared, that Jewes excesses have got into Chri­stian Assemblies; and many incur that censure of the Apo­stle in making their belly their God on a Sabbath, they de in­dulgere gulae & genio, flatter their imtemperate palate, and with the wanton Israelites, Eat the Lambs out of the flock, and drink their wine in bowles upon Gods holy day. It was the complaint of holy men in former times, that Wedding Dinners were kept on the Sabbath, where too much intem­perance swayed, to the great prophanation of it. This over-plus of food and fare, gives the Soul a writ of ease, and makes the body slothful and drowsie, and so renders the or­dinances and duties sapless and ineffectual; and if God re­veals himself to them, it must be in dreams, for the stretcht and pampered body is fit for little else.

3 There is a third sort of actions we must abstain from on the Sabbath, (viz.) sinful actions; so the Text, [Not doing Sinful actions to be avoided on a Sabbath. Nec relig osi hujus diei otia relaxantes, ob­scoenis quibusli­bet patimur voluptatibus teneri. Nihil die [...]odem ve [...] ­dicet sibiscaena theatralis, aut Circense certa­men, aut fera­rum lachrymosa spectacula. Anthem. thy own wayes] Such actions which stain a week day, do blemish a Sabbath with a blacker spot. Sin is a blot on any day, but a Monster on a Sabbath: On any day it is a Cockatrice Egge, but a Serpent on a Sabbath. The So­lemnity of a Sabbath adds weight to every sin. How scandalous is it to be guilty of Pride, excess, luxury, on Gods holy day? this is to turn the heaven of a Sabbath into an bell. It is a remarkable Speech of Bishop Andrews; To keep the Sabbath in an idle manner, is, Sabbatum Boum & Asinorum, the Sabbath of Beasts, Oxen and Asses. To keep the Sabbath in a jocular manner, to see Playes and Sights, to [Page 23] frequent the Theatres, or as Leo saith, to be at Cards or Com­messations, this Augustine calls Sabbathum aurei vituli, the Sabbath of the golden calf: But to keep the Sabbath in Sin, in Drunkenness, and surfeting, in Chambering and Wanton­ness, this is the Sabbath of Satan, the Devils holy day. All Si quis agrum colat die domi­nico, violator est sacriotii; verùm si reli­ctâ agricultu [...]â inebrietur, scortetur, ludat, &c. non cense­tur prophanasse di [...]i deminici sanctimoniam? Aug. Dr. Andrews Patt. Chatechist. doct. p. 233. Leo Serm. 3. de Quadrag. Rom. 13. 13. Exod. 20. 8. Exod. 35. 2. Neh. 9. 14. Monemus, vos fratres, ut fugiatis ser­monum vanitatem, & turpitudinem, facetias, ebrietates, lascivias, fractos, et effoeminatos mo­tus siquidem in diebus dominicis, non permittimus vobis quicquid inhonestum. Clem. Rom. Num. 15. 35. the holies which God hath added to his Sabbath in the Scri­ptures, not only in the fourth Commandment, but in many other Scripture-texts, will be so many Indictments against Practical miscarriages. And if it was a capital offence for the poor man to gather a few sticks on the Sabbath, Ah what is it to draw swords against Heaven in open scandal and pro­phaneness?

CHAP. IV. That Needless Recreations are unlawfull on the Sabbath.

4 THere are another sort of actions we must abstain from upon the Sabbath, (viz.) Recreative Actions; so the Recreative actions to be abstain'd from on the Sab­bath day. [...] Text, [Not finding thy own pleasure] Recreations on a Sabbath, are blown up into prophaneness. Those delights which in the week are commendable, on the Sabbath are intollerable. [...] Kephetz, the original word denotes, we must have no blandishments on that day, nothing to be a snare or titilla­tion to sense, then the outward man must not be flattered or gratified. The Commandments must be our walk, the Psal. 119. 32. Word our field, and Devotion our chiefest recreation. Our exercises on the Sabbath are not Corporal but Spiritual, not for outward but inward delight, not to please fancy, but to strengthen faith. The Sabbath is the souls holy day; It Isid. Hispa. de Eccles. Offic. Lib. Cap. 19. was a good saying of Isidore Hispalensis, The Apostles (saith [Page 24] he) therefore ordained the Lords day to be kept with Religious Non ed luden­dum ordinatur talis dies, sed ad laudandum, et orandum deum. Aquin. Opusc. de Praecept. 10. 2 Sam. 12. 3. Grande videli­cet officium focos, et choros in puhlicum educere, vica­tim epulari, civitatem lat bernae halitu obolefacere, ta­tervatim cursi­tare ad injurias ad impudicitias ad libidinis illecebras, sic­cine exprimitur publicum gau­dium per pub­licum dedecus? Tertul. Apol. Cap. 35. Solemnity, because in it our Redeemer rose from the dead, which was therefore called the Lords day, that resting on the same from all earthly acts, and the temptations of the World, we might intend Gods holy worship, giving this day due honour, for the hope of the Resurrection we have therein. We enjoy the Sabbath [...]ot to play in, but to pray in; for our souls, and not for our sports, saith Aquinas. It is true, Man is a poor frail piece of Clay, and therefore had need to be recreated, crea­ted again by lawful delights and recreations; but must the holy day of the Lord be this vacation? Is this the time for sports and pleasurous satisfaction? Surely this speaks a grand abuse of the Sabbath. Must the poor mans Ewe-Lamb be taken? that little spot of time God gives us more immediately for our spiritual interest, must that be prostitu­ted to gratifie the softness of the flesh? The Council of Car­thage petitioned the Emperour Theodosius the younger, that the shews of the Theatre and other Playes, then used on the Lords day might be removed, which accordingly was granted by his Edict; and it was Enacted, Anno Dom. 415. That on the Lords day the Cirques and Theatres in all places should be shut up, and people denyed the pleasure thereof, that so their whole minds might 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 [Page 25] 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.

1 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 conve [...]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 [Page 26] 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.

2 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.

3 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 [Page 27] 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.

4 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, [Page 28] 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.

5 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.

6 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 [Page 29] Psalmist, in the Text quoted in the Margin. Psal. 1. 2.

7 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 f [...]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.

8 Recreations on a Sabbath, They are an indignity offered to the noble and precious soul. Shall the body, that mass and Isa. 2. 22. [Page 30] 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 of which was the grand and forcible attractive of Corpus hoc vin­culum, & car­cer est animae, ex quo exire cu­pit sanctus, & esse cum Chri­sto. Hierom. Christs incarnation and death, this darling of Heaven, not enjoy one day, but it must be retailed and canton'd into di­vers divisions? Some parts of it must be spent in the la­bours of our Callings, and some in solemn Duties in the pub­lick Congregations, and some in sports and delightful Recrea­tions, when the publick is over, and some in private Duties, (if there be any time;) and this torn and rent Sabbath, something like Joseph's Coat of many colours, must be the Gen. 37. 3. onely morsel for the immortal soul. But how irrational is it for the soul, that better part of man, which shall live as long Mat. 16. 26. as God himself, to be straightned and pinnion'd to a few Vita carnis tuae anima est, vita animae tuae de­us est, quomodo moritur caro a­missâ animâ, quae vita ejus est, sic moritur anima, amisso deo, qui vita est ejus. August. hours? It must not enjoy one whole day, onely the leavings of our work and recreations, the crumbs which fall from the bodies table; Let the Christian who is solicitous of his souls eternal interest, consider, whether this pittance of time, onely a few hours on a Sabbath, be sutable to the vast and unlimited soul, especially if we observe, that the soul sways the body; the body follows the condition of the soul, and not the soul the estate of the body.

9 Labours are forbidden on the Sabbath, much more Re­creations. That labours are prohibited, the fourth Com­mandment is the pregnant testimony of: now sports, toys, pastimes Melius est in Sabbato araro, quam saltare. Aug. Enar. in Tit. are of less avail then labours. It is a memorable speech of Augustine, Melius est in Sabbatho arare, quam sal­tare: It is better to plow, then to dance upon a Sabbath.

1 Labours may bring in some Income, so not sports; there is a temporal profit, and emolument in the one, none in the other. Concerning sports we may say, that the Gamesters labour for that which is not bread, there can be no supplies Isa. 55. 1, 2. from the breast of a recreation. Pastimes are clouds with­out water.

2 Recreations more tempt and flatter the flesh, then La­bours do. Toyle doth not pamper; dancing, hunting, shooting [Page 31] do; they are sun-shines which make the dunghill of mans heart reak with noysomness. It was once the expostulation of a holy man, worth the transcribing, his words are these; What shall I say of the Zeal of worldlings, which may controule Mr. Greenham. the security of our sins; worldly men never seek for pleasure, Vita in delitiis agens, & mors est, & umbra mortis, quantum enim umbra propè est cor­pori, cujus est umbra, tantum pro certo, vita illa voluptuario inferno appro­pinquat, Bern. Serm. 48 in Cantic. 15 James. [...] p. 52. whilst profit doth drop, and so long as they may gain a penny, how diligent are they, they will not sport or play: But the Sab­bath is the market day of our souls, where we should gather whilst the sun shines; Here is profit, and so there ought to be diligence, and therefore we should lay aside pleasure, and we should say, what have we to do with Recreations any more? yet how many neglect their pleasure for the world, and we will not for heaven or our souls? But after the publick Ordi­nances are over, nay multitudes in the very time of publick Worship, follow their sensual Recreations, I was going to say, Abominations. It was a saying of King James, Though without superstition, Playes and lawful Games may be used in May, and good Chear at Christmas, yet alwayes provided, that the Sabbath be kept holy, and no unlawful pastime be then used. And as a worthy and holy man observes; No man can think Dr. B. upon that day to be so disordered, as to follow his ordinary plea­sures, without great contempt of God and Man: Ʋpon that holy day, all sorts of men must utterly give over shooting, hunt­ing, hawking, bowling, &c. and they must no more deal with them, then the Artificer with his Trade, or the Husband-man with his Plow. I shall shut up this particular with a pious Bp Hall of Ex­eter. Con­temp. Lib. 17. Ejaculation of a Holy and Reverend Bishop, who thus vents himself: I wonder what these kind of men, (viz.) (those who bathe themselves in pleasures upon the Lords day) will do, when they come to Heaven, (if ever they come there) where there is a continued Sabbatisme without intermission; surely they will wish themselves on Earth again, unless they keep a Sab­bath better here below. Do we not pray, Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven? there the Angels do nothing but praise God. Do we hope to be like them in Glory, and not endea­vour to be like them in duty? Our Heaven above is a con­tinual Sabbath, our Sabbath below should be a continued Heaven: The Sabbath, not the sports on the Sabbath, should be our delight.

10 Recreations on the Sabbath are forbidden by all kind of Laws.

1 1. By Divine Law, (viz.) the fourth Commandment, Requies requi­ritur in quarto Praecepto, & cōmendatur, et ubi (que) amatur, sed illa requies in solo deo, cer­ta, et sancta in­venitur. Aug. where Labours are expresly forbidden; and sports are an equal, if not a greater impediment to the duties of the Sab­bath, both publick and private; the sweets of Recreation influencing the mind, and withdrawing the heart, much more then the sweats of Labour. Surely if we must not toyle, we must not trifle on Gods holy day.

2 2. By the Law of Nature; which requires a total absti­nence from all works, both of Labour and Pleasure, during the time allotted and consecrated to Gods service, publick Dies dominicus abipsis Apostolis sacris actionibus est consecratus. Bucer. and private. But the Lords day is that time allotted; we can­not work▪ and worship both at once: and if when we should worship, we follow our pleasures, or our profits, Is not this to subordinate the Divine Will to mans Fan­cy?

3 3. By the Law Political, which requires a total resting from all kind of labour or diversion, and applying our souls Edw. the 6th. wholly, and onely to Religious Exercises, as the Statute of Act. Primo, Carol. Primi. King Edward the sixth of blessed memory, a Law yet un­repealed. That English Josiah, the morning Sun of Refor­mation Ad Sabbathi rectam observa­tionem, duo re­quiruntur, quies et quietis illius sanctificatio. Ames. med. Theol. in England, began early to confine the Sabbath to the two great designs of it, Rest and Sanctity; and in this he shewed himself to be Custos utrius (que) Tabulae, a Keeper of both the Tables: And indeed the enjoyning of the holy observance of Gods blessed day, is a rare piece of Reforma­tion, well becoming the Care and Conscience of the best of Princes.

4 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.

11 Recreations on a Sabbath are the wasts of time, they ali­enate the time of a Sabbath from the intention of the Law­giver. 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, quàm libertatem fili­alem respicium: modò liberta­tem illam in li­centiam carnis non vertamus. Wal. James 4. 14.

2 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.

3 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. [Page 34] to breath the soul in holy meditation, to draw out the soul Sic agamus in Sabbatho, ut deum in nobis agere patiamur, at (que) 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.

4 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 m [...]i­ma volupt [...]s, ne (que) est [...]lla major victoria, quàmquae 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 b [...]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.

5 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 ce­ [...]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 [Page 35] 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 [...]itia pro [...] est, & ill [...] vin­cere diffi [...]illi mum est. Lactant. their sweat had run in some other channel. Alas, in this Argument, mans corrupt Nature will be the b [...]st Or [...]tour, and produce the strongest ple [...]s; we are naturally en [...]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 Q [...]i h [...]er [...] vi­ci [...] f [...]rtior u [...] al [...]er [...], sed qui libidi [...]m re­pressi f [...]rtior [...]at s [...]i [...]so. Cypr. de bo­no Pudic. cause, and needs not the supplement of another Advocate. But if the whole day of a Sabbath must be spent with God in publick, private or secret duties, and in managing of the affairs of the soul, which comes now to be prov [...]d in this Chapter; then the Argument for sports and pastim [...]s on the Lords day will lose its force and significancy. And here I may begin the Argument, with that sharp expostu­lation of Naamans Servant to Naaman himself; What if God (as he speaks of the Prophet) had required some great thing of us, would we not have done it? What if God had It is most e­qual, if man have 6 days, that God should have the 7th; and this is the rea­son, the soul, and life of the fourth Com­mandment. Mr. Shep. required of us six dayes, and given us onely one for our selves, should we not have observed them? Much more when he requireth but one day, and giveth us six, shall not we ob­serve that? Shall we abate God of the tale and measure of his time? Shall the stream of time, wherein we are com­manded to worship God be so small, and yet shall it be turned into several channels and diversions? Reason it self here seems to condemn the straightness of our spirits: but for the clearing of the Argument, we will fetch our evi­dences [Page 36] from the treasuries of Scripture, Reason and conve­niency.

1 In the fourth Commandment, which yet our Liturgie confesseth to be of equal obligation with the rest, in pray­ing for pardon for the breaches of it, and begging grace for the better observance of it (as was hinted before) I say in this Commandment the initiatory and first words com­mand Exod. 20. 8. the sanctification of a day, not a part of a day, or a few hours of a day; for the words of the Statute run thus, Deut. 5. 12. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; and it is very observable, and not to be passed over with silence, that Memento diei Sabbathi, ut cum sanctifices, inquit Dominus in quarto Praecepto; Ad hoc recteintelligen­dum, notandum est ex vi ipsius praecepti, non aliquam partem diei, sed totum diem esse Do­mino sanctifi­candum. Wal. We are to ac­count the san­ctification of one day in a week, a duty which Gods immutable Law, doth En­act for ever. Hooks Eccles. Pol. Lib. 5. God would have at least one day in a week to be al­lowed him. Ferus. The Divine Law required that one day in a week should be sequestred for holy worship. Bellar. de Cult. Sanct. Lib. 3. Cap. II. 1 Kings, 3. 26. Mat. 25. 24. God doth not onely command us to keep holy the Sabbath, which might be a time indefinite and indeterminate, but the Sabbath day, which amply prescribes the time of observance. A day, no less then the time of a day, it is [...] Jom Ha Sabbath, the day of a Sabbath; Now the word [...] jom properly and usually signifies a full day, unless it be figu­ratively, and by way of Synechdoche; it signifies some­times, time indefinite, as Critiques in the holy tongue ob­serve; and so Gen. 1. 5. where it is said, the Evening and the Morning was the first day, there the word is [...] jom; and the day mentioned in this great Commandment, must needs comprehend the space of twenty four hours; nor do the Learned by their interpretations or glosses, abreviate or shorten the time, but [...] jom is a whole day by the con­fession of all. Now shall God enjoyne the observation of a day, and shall we mutilate it? Shall we maime or curtaile it, and take part of this holy day for our labours or recrea­tions? Surely this savours of too great presumption. We must by Divine command keep holy a day, not a part or piece of a day; and therefore for us to say, as the Harlot to Solomon in another case, Let not God have the whole Sab­bath, nor let us have the whole Sabbath, but let it be divi­ded between his service and our sports, what is this, but with the unprofitable servant, to call God, hard Master, and that his requiring a whole day, was an act of too much au­sterity.

2 And as we have an Argument in the beginning of the fourth Commandment, wherein God shews his Soveraignty, so we may discern an Argument in the body of the Com­mandment, wherein God shews his indulgence; for in this fourth Commandment God allows us six dayes for labour, Exod. 20. 8. but the seventh is to be a day of holy rest and observation. Now the six dayes for labour, are six full and whole dayes, Naturale est, diem septimum quem (que) deo sa­crum esse, Jun. Com. in Genes without any deduction or abatement. Man may without regret on these six dayes pursue [...], those things which belong to this life, as Chrysostome calls them; He may go forth to his labour till the Evening, as the Psalmist speaks; nay; if his strength still fail not, he may draw the curtains Morale est, ut ex septem die­bus unus cultu [...] divino conse­cretur. Armin. Disp. 77. Chrysost. Psal. 104. 23. No man doubteth the meaning of these words, six dayes shalt thou labour, &c. to be this; That seeing God hath per­mitted us six dayes to do our works in, we ought in the seventh, wholly to serve him. VVhit­guift Defence of the Answ. to the Adm. p. 553. Jam hinc ab initio, doctri­nam hanc insi­nuat Deus, eru­diens in circulo hebdomadae di­em unum inte­grum, segre­gandum, et re­ponendum in spiritualem o­perati [...]nem. Chrysost. [...] Septimum di­em, non utilem deus putabat ad creandum, sed ad quietem ac­commodandum statu [...]t. Theod. quest. in Genesin. Perpetuum est, ac aeternum quamdiu Eccle­sia agit inter­ris, quòd unus dies in hebdomade, cultui divino mancipetur, hoc stabile, & firmum est. Pet. Mart. loc. Com. Aug Serm. de Temp. Requirit Deus quietem hanc corporis, et cess [...]tio [...]em ab operibus, non qualemeun (que) et dimidiatam, sed justam, plenam, et exact [...]m, (i. e.) proposito accommodam. Musc. Totus ergo dies, ex toto ammo, quantum fert humana necessitas, et imbecillitas, ritè ac piè Deo servandus erat. Leid. Prof. of the night, and make a further progress into his toyle and painfulness, and all this without blame and violation of the fourth Commandment. Now shall not the seventh day be of as long continuance and duration as any of the other six? Shall the day for Heaven be more contracted, then the six dayes for Earth? The day for spiritual rest, shall it not be of an equall length with the dayes for secular labour? Whence ariseth the inequality, that the six dayes may be wholly employed in our worldly affairs, but if part onely of the Lords day be spent in holy services, it shall be sufficient? I am sure the same word [...] jom a day, is in both; both the six dayes, and in the seventh, and how comes the signification to be altered? if jom a day, signifies a whole day in the one, why not in the other? why not the whole seventh day engaged in divine service, as well as the whole six dayes taken up in secular employments. Chry­sostome and Theodoret observe, that from the very beginning God taught man this lesson, that one whole day in the cir­cle of seven is to be employed in holy services. And many famous lights of the Reformed Church conclude, that what­ever is moral in the fourth Commandment, this must needs be, that the seventh part of every week be consecrated to the worship of God. So Zanchy, Bucer, Martyr, &c. That famous person mentioned last speaks roundly when he saith, That it is perpetual and eternal while the Church re­mains upon Earth, that one day in the week be designed for the [Page 38] service and worship of God; and this (saith he) is firme and unshaken. Augustine in one of his Sermons adviseth the people, That from the Evening of the Saturday, till the Even­ing of the Lords day, they avoid all vain sloth and idleness, and all secular toyle and labour, and wholly set themselves apart for the worship of God. This excellent man gives the full current of twenty four hours to the holy observation of the Sabbath; And this, saith he, is rightly to keep the Sabbath: and truly if God gives us six natural dayes to labour in, is it not fit that the seventh should bear an equal proportion with every working day? And therefore it is a natural day consisting of twenty four hours, which we must in con­science allow to God to be the Sabbath day. But besides the force of Divine Command, which as clearly enjoyns, the seventh day for holy Rest, as indulges the other six dayes for toyle and labour; the very plea's of the soul may come in to affirme the sanctification of one whole day in the week, to spiritual and divine services. Let us consider.

1 The Soul in the Nobleness of its Original, it is a Heaven-born soul, Gods breath in mans bosome; Mans soul onely bubbles from the fountain of spirits; our soul is but a beam The Soul is [...]. from the glorious Sun, God beam▪d into man a glittering soul; and shall not this noble soul, so worthily descended, lay claim to one day, as well as the body, that dusty case of the principle of life, the soul, that body, which is onely the sheath of the soul, the cabinet for this jewel to lye in, put in its title and right to six? What is this but to degrade the soul from the honour of its Excellent Original?

2 Let us look on the soul in the excellency of its capacity; what is not a reasonable soul capable of? It is capable of Gods Anima est ex Deo, non ut ex materia, et ex traduce dei, [...]eu ejus quadam particula, sed ut [...] causâ effi­ciente, & ac­cessu quodam naturae pro­piore ad es­sentiam dei, divinarum (que) proprietatum assimilatione. Leid. Prof. 2 Cor. 5. 1. Image. There is little of Gods Image to be seen in the bo­dy. God is a spirit, and so stamps his Image on the spirits of [Page 39] men and shall not the soul, which bears so noble a super­scription, enjoy the priviledge and latitude of one day, as well as the body, that earthly tabernacle which is soon ta­ken down, and wrapt up in a silent grave, enjoy the im­munity of six whole dayes? But must the abatement fall on the souls portion?

3 Consider the multiplicity, of a souls work; and therefore let not its day be shortned by frothy pleasures or servile la­bours. John 9. 4. Praeclarae sunt arimae dotes, eff [...]ctus, & di­vinae functio­nes: miranda solertia ingenii, cogitationis ce­leritas, facilitas perceptionis, judicii acrim [...] ­nia, dis [...]ursus, et ratiocinatio de rebus omni­bus, memoria rerum praet [...]ri­tarum, contem­platio praesen­tium, futurarum praevisio, et maxime inse ipsam conversio, et reflexio, suae (que) contemplatio, &c. Lied. Prof. The work of the soul is very great and very various, there are many duties to perform, many graces to act, many ordinances to wait upon, much knowledge to acquire, many corruptions to subdue. Now he that is to ride far, let him not want day-light, the souls task is great, let not its time be short, especially shorter then God hath made it. The body hath onely two things to get, (viz.) food and rai­ment, it hath but two rooms to go thorow, the Kitchin and the Wardrobe: But the soul hath more and nobler at­chievements to pursue; It hath a Pardon, Grace, Christ, God, Heaven to look after, and obtain; and shall its owne day, given it more especially for these great attempts, be subject to an unhappy diminution?

4 Let us look on the soul, in the eternity of its duration. The soul (saith one) is a bud of eternity; the business of the Anima [...]e [...] Domine aufer à me hanc tu­nicam grave [...] (corpus scil. terrestre, pon­derosum, et aerumnosum) et d [...] mihi le­vi [...]rem. soul is of everlasting concernment: But the body is a shat­tered piece of dust, a shaking fa brick which is soon unpinned; the paint of its beauty is soon washed off, the vigour of its strength is soon weakned and enervated, a thousand dis­eases can crack this piece of frailty; and yet this tottering piece of flesh, must have its full six dayes, and the eternal soul not enjoy one whole day, without allowance made for pleasure and secular employments.

5 Let us consider the soul, in the importance of its well­fare. The body follows the condition of the soul, but the soul doth not follow the condition of the body. If thy soul [Page 40] miscarry, it had been better, as our Saviour speaks, thou hadst never been born. Man fares as his soul fares. It was Mat. 26. 24. Sic alloquitur anima sancta suspirans, O ci­vitas sancta, ci­vitas speciosa, de longinquo te saluto, ad te cla­mo, te requiro, desidero verè te videre, et in te requiescere; O civitas desi­derabilis, Muri tui Iapis unus, Custos tuus ipse deus, Cives tui semper laeti semper enim gratulantur vi­sione Dei. Hug. Victor. the Redemption of the soul that drew Christ from Heaven to tabernacle amongst us, and to offer up himself a sacrifice to Divine Justice; and therefore how rational is it, that the precious soul should enjoy a full Sabbath without any sen­sual vacancies, for pleasures and pastimes, seeing the whole man is dependant upon its disposal, and is happy or miser­able, according to its state or condition. But to wind up this particular Argument, if we consider either the force of the fourth Commandment, or the pregnant plea's of the immortal soul, whose interest is much pursued on a Sabbath; nay, the Sabbath is the very day God hath appointed for the souls great affairs and negotiations; we must conclude, that the time which God requires for himself, and for the souls advantage, must be at least equal for continuance to that which he allows for other employments: and surely no one day of the week is longer or shorter then another; but if the Lords day hath not twenty four hours, it must needs be shorter then the rest.

The Primitive Church kept a night as well as a day on the Sabbath, as appeared by their Vigils, and this not only in times of persecution, but in the times when Emperours were Chri­stians. The ancient Fathers are clear & copious in command­ing the Observation of a whole Sabbath for spiritual services as a duty. So Augustine, Irenaeus, and the Council of Mascon, hath these words; Let us observe the Lords day, and sanctifie Aug. Iren. Conc. Mas­con. it from the Evening of the Saturday, till the Evening of the Lords day, sequestred from all business. Nay, let us hear Mr. Primrose, our Adversary in this Controversie, It is necessary (saith that learned man) that a day be chosen and appointed, that in it, as often as it returns, men may apply themselves ex­traordinarily Primrose. Praes. p. 1, 2. to publick and private devotion; men must stint some ordinary day for that end, and in this stinting, must not shew themselves inferiour to the Jewes, appointing less then one day in seven to Gods service. And another concludes, (who is likewise our adversary) That some day be destinated to the Lord, may seem to be a dictate of the Law of Nature, [Page 41] which he proves from the practice of the Heathens, who ob­served a whole day to the honour of their Gods: And there­fore C. DOW p. 74. what spirit are they of, who on the week day could wish the Sun might stand still, as in the time of Joshua, or Josh. 10. 13. 2 Kings 20. 11. run back as on the dyal of Ahaz, that they might have greater leasure for their worldly affairs? but desire that the Sun might pass on, on a Sabbath (if it were possible, with a speedier flight) that that holy day might be the sooner over, like those wanton Israelites, Amos 8. 5. who were Amos 8. 5. weary of their Sabbath. In a word, it is very strange, that any man should make the Sabbath like Nebuchadnezzars Image, the upper parts Gold and Silver, but the lower Dan. 2. 32, 33. parts Iron and Clay; the former part of a Sabbath to be spent in holy, in golden duties, but the latter part of the Sabbath, in Iron labours, or Clay, drossie pleasures and de­lights, in bowling and shooting, and such like sports, so much contended for by many men to be lawfull on the Sab­bath day.

3 God will not abate any thing of a whole day in other Fe­stivals, which are of an inferiour nature, and which were onely Ceremonial shaddows of something to come, as we Lev. 23. 3 [...]. may observe in that signal and famous place, Lev. 23. 32. the words are these; And it shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest, and you shall afflict your souls in the ninth day of the month at Even, from Even unto Even shall ye celebrate your Sabbath. Now this Feast here mentioned was called the Feast of Ex­piation, and it was celebrated on the tenth day of the month Tisri, our September, and it was called the feast of Post paschale sacrum, elapsis septem septi­manis, qua­draginta novem diebus, quin­quagessima, quam à numero, Asartha He­braei vocant, offerunt deo panem. Joseph Anti. Lib. 3 Cap. 10. Expiation, because the High Priest did then confess unto God both his own sins, and the sins of the people, by per­formance of some Rites and Ceremonies expiate them, and make an attonement to God for them. Now to give you the Reason why this Feast was called a Sabbath, in the fore­mentioned Text, you must conceive, that the other Festi­vals of the Jews were by a general notion called Sabbaths, though they did not fall on the seventh day, as the New Moons, Ezek. 46. 3. the feast of unleavened bread, instituted in the twelfth of Exodus, upon the sparing of the Jewes in [Page 42] the slaughter of the Aegyptians first born, and the feast of Exod. 23. 14. Pentecost, a feast instituted in memory of the Law given on Mount Sinai, fifty dayes after Israels coming out of Egypt; Haec sesta so lennia, si in Sabbathum in­ciderent, ob duplicem sestivi­tatem magnus dies Sabbathi vocabantur. Leid. Prof. and in these feasts which continued divers dayes, the first and the last were more properly termed Sabbaths. And so in the feast of Tabernacles, or Booths, which was ordained to witness that the Israelites lived in Tents or Booths in the Wilderness; the first and the last day of this feast was cal­led a Sabbath; but if these solemn feasts fell upon a week­ly Sabbath, for the double feastival, it was called the great day of the Sabbath, Joh. 19. 31. But to reassume the Argu­ment; If God will have a whole day for these Ceremonial Mel. 4. 2. Hos. 6. 4. Psal. 92. 1, 2. feasts, which were to set with the rising Sun, the coming of Christ the Sun of Righteousness, surely God will abate nothing of his substantial Sabbath, which is to endure till Sabbathi, apud Judaeos, fue­runt variae significationes, quae tamen ab hac primâ om­nes dependent. quâ septimus cujus (que) hebdo­madae dies, in quarto Prae­cepto Sabba­thum appella­tur. Wal. the second coming of Christ; (I mean not the seventh day, the Jewes Sabbath, but the first day of the week, the Chri­stian Sabbath) If the Lord was so strict, that he would not lose a moments honour in a ceremonial day of rest, what shall we think the Lord expects upon this day, this holy bles­sed Sabbath, which is moral and perpetual? Surely on this day we must not serve him by fits and flashes, and sudden pangs, which pass away as the early dew, but we must con­stantly walk with him the whole day. A flying Ceremony must not command more constant and strict observance, then a stated, steady festival, the holy and weekly Sabbath; Wallaeus observes, all the other Sabbaths of the Jewes had their dependence on the great Sabbath, the weekly Sabbath, Luke 18. 12. Gal. 4. 9. and the week was sometimes called Sabbath, and so the first day of the week was called the first day of the Sabbath, Haec Sabbatha Ceremoniales fuerunt umbrae verum futura­rum. Ames. and so the second of the week, the second of the Sabbath, for the Sabbath sake, that glorious day, which shed a lu­stre upon, and gave name to the whole week. And indeed other Sabbaths, were but beggarly elements, as the Apostle Sabbatil autem in decalogo praescriptum, et dies nostra Do­minica, alius prorsus sunt naturae. Id. speaks, Gal. 4. 9. beggarly, having little in them to enrich the soul, and elements, being the first and weak method of instruction, the shady Ceremonies, which were to teach the Children of Israel. But our Sabbath is of a higher and nobler [Page 43] 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. Hi [...] verò infer­tur, ut aeq [...]s qu [...]rti praecepti pates [...]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.

4 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 Com­m [...]ndmen [...]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 [...]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.

5 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 [Page 44] 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, ne (que) 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. [Page 45] 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.

6 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 la [...] ­dando dei no­mine, us (que) 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 n [...]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, [Page 46] 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.

7 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?

8 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, [Page 47] Heu facinus! Is not this to let the light of a glow worm out­shine 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;

1 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.

2 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 [Page 46] [...] [Page 47] [...] [Page 48] 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.

3 Many of Gods Servants, the Excellent of the earth, and the darlings of Heaven, and Princes in disguise, those pat­terns Psal. 16. 3. of piety, have looked on the Sabbath as their Para­dise, where they could refresh their souls with variety of delights; Nor have they complained that the wheels of time have been taken off, that it hath moved slowly, and drove heavily, but have thought the evening of that blessed Sab­bath Psal. 84. 10. hath surprised them, when they knew not how to give over their banqueting with Jesus Christ; the Ordi­nances of Jesus Christ have not been their burden, but their repast, nor have they thought holy duties the waste, but the improvement of their Sabbath.

4 There have been those who have spent divers dayes and nights also in the service of God. Let us onely instance in Anna the Prophetess, a widow of above fourscore and four Luke 2. 37. years old, which departed not from the Temple, but served God with fastings and prayers day and night; for her Sex a woman, for her case a widow, not having the company nor support of her husband, and for age eighty four years, yet night and day with fasting and prayer, serving God in the Temple.

5 And for such as are tyred out with the time of the Sab­bath, would they go to Heaven? There it is ever Sabbath, alwayes singing, serving and setting up God. Bernard urgeth Rev. 4 10, 11. the observation of the Sabbath, and holding out in holy ex­ercises thereupon, upon this account, That by present rest, Bern. Serm. 4. Col. 1744. men may learn to live in rest eternal; and by persevering in service, men may be prompt to perpetuate the Lords ever­lasting praise. But how would men do to endure Heaven, if here they cannot hold out the durance of a Sabbath day.

CHAP. VI. Impertinent and frothy Language unbecoming and defiling the Sabbath.

BUt God in the Text, commands us not only to abstaine from unsuitable practices, but unsuitable discourses on Gratia pruden­tiae caelitus datae reprimit in colloquiis piorum sermo­nem otiosum et inutilem; funditus autem removet, et tol­lit ab ii [...], im­probum, obscae­num et putri­dum sermònem. Daven. the holy Sabbath; so the Text, [Not speaking thy own words.] The Sabbath may be polluted by the slipperiness of the tongue, as well as by the sliding of the feet; we may as well talk, as act irregularly. Holy Communication, Col. 4. 6. becomes a holy Sabbath. Our Sabbath is a sign of hea­ven; and there, as there shall be no irregular practice, so no unseemly discourse, and here we should endeavour to begin heaven. Vain discourse on a Sabbath, is like Musick at a suneral, or sighs at a wedding, which are not onely imperti­nent but unseemly. It is a sign the World hath crept into our hearts, if it creep out of our tongues on the blessed Sab­bath. The Sabbath hath its Shibboleth. Is our frothy and Abstinendum est a vanis con­fabulationibus, ridiculis, nugo­sis, detractoriis, irrisoriis, obsce­nis, ri [...]osis. Sept. Psal. 45. 1. loose language the fruit of those powerfull Ordinances and holy Administrations we enjoy on a Sabbath? What a gulf do we shoot, when we pass from holy prayers to unseemly pratlings; from breathing out our souls in duty, to breath out vanity in frothy Communications? Nor will it be any excuse for us, to the God of the Sabbath, to spend part of it in discoursing of the flue [...]t gifts, rare parts, elegant passages of the Minister, and to make himself, not his Doctrine the subject to dilate upon. Gods holy truth, not the Ministers person or parts, must take up our Sabbath discourses. The tongue indeed is only the hearts interpreter; and what frame of heart we should be of on a Sabbath, is most easily conje­ctured; surely then, if ever, our tongues should be as the pen of a ready writer. The Emperour Leo would permit no talk­ing of pleasures, or worldly matters on a Lords day: And Clemens Ro­manus prohi­b [...]it, Sermonum v [...]nitatem, et faceti [...]s. so Clemens Romanus condemned all Jestings, and facetious­ness, to tickle or delight the vanity of mens spirits. Men by breaking jests should not break the Sabbath. Dr. Ames ob­serves, [Page 50] there is nothing more fits and tunes the heart for Culius publicus quàm maximè solenniter est celebrandus, et necessariò po­stulat exercitia colloquiorum sanct [...]rum, et contemplation is operum diei, quibus parati­ores fiamus ad publicum cul­tum. Ames. Luk. 14. 1, 2. Secundum membrum con­vivii Phari­saici est mira­culosa sanatio hydropici. Ip­sum hoc mira­culum de boni­tate et potentiâ Christi, idem docet, quod re­liqua omnia. Chemnit. publick service on a Sabbath, then holy discourses; we are more ready by them for spiritual Administrations. Vain language sets the heart backward, that it is not so intense in Sabbath performances. Our Saviour (who is our Copy without blot) making a meal with a Pharisee on the Sabbath, spent all his time, either in healing or preaching, in working miracles, or speaking parable [...], which are those stars behind a cloud, not a vain word drops from him, Luke 14. 1, 2, 7. and surely in this particular, our imitation is our holiness. A holy man complained long since, That many had made such proceedings in sin, that when they should reckon with their souls, they would reckon with their servants, and when they should make even with their con­sciences, they would make even with their Chapmen, and yet perswade themselves of the small breaches of the Sabbath. The Leiden professors, make holy discourse, one of the private Duties of a Sabbath; and to omit it, what is it, but to maime and mutilate a Sabbath, to loose a duty, and to make a chasme and vacancy in the constant and continued Religion of a Sabbath. And indeed, if holy language be salt at any time, it is more especially at the feast of a Sabbath. The Psalmist, in Psal. 16. 4. Commands us not to take the Name of other Gods into our lips; we must not onely not worship them, but not name them: So that there is irreligi­on Eccles. 12. 10. in the tongue, as well as in the knee; and if ever sinfulness Non modo pub­lice, sed et pri­vatim, Sabba­thum sanctis pietatis exer­citiis celebre­tur, qualia sunt Scripturae lectio, et dome­stica meditatio, & colloquium de rebus sanctis, Leid. Prof. Col. 4. 6. Sicut Sal non modo exsiccat superfluos & noxios ciborum humores, sed focit illos insuper aptos ad digerendum, salubres ad nutriendam. Sic Sal prudentiae efficit, non modo ut sermo Christianorum non sit otiosus aut noxius, sed ut aptus fiat, ac utilis ad aedifi [...]andum. Daven. Sermo noster opportunus esse debet, e [...] com [...]i [...]us, ut a [...]itores nobis gratias agan [...], [...]t per nos adjuti sint. Theoph. cleaves to the tongue, it is in idl [...] and foolish talking on a Sabbath; this indeed is the Fly in the ointment. On that holy day we must not only abstain from secular works, but secular words; for 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, [Page 51] 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.

1 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.

2 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 Quàm augusta erit ista Syno­dus, in quâ con­venient omnes sancti, cujus [...] erit Christus; in quâ non erit neces­sarium, sollicitè inquirere veri­tate [...], 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 som [...] 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.

3 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 quo (que) coercet aspectum, ut dis­cos, [...]bi consi­stat illu [...], 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.

4 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.

5 And lastly, we may see this sin of foolish talking on a Sab­in the Glass of future Glory. The glorified Saints converse Ne (que) 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 [Page 53] 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.

1 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 [Page 54] 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?

2 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 vesti­end [...], 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; Ʋpon 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.

3 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 a [...]tionius Psal. 118. 24. temporis, that juncture of time which the soul hath to cla [...] up for Eternity. On this day more especially, the Scepter [Page 55] 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.

1 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.

2 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.

3 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, [Page 56] 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.

4 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 [...]ae [...]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. Ʋltra hunc mundum est veri Sabbathi observatio. Orig. Prov. 34. 2 Cor. 10. 4. 2 Cor. 4. 7. In Sabbatho totus Deo, dei (que) voluntati cognoscendae annuntiandae, et edimplendae vaces. Alap. time to prepare for eternity. The Lords day is the day of Commemoration for Christs Resurrection, and the day of Preparation for ours. The Sabbaths are as the rounds of a Ladder, by which we climb up to our Fathers house; our present Sabbaths work being sanctified, becomes the way to our future Sabbaths rest. On this holy day, the soul more especially waits at wisdomes gates, and brings its cor­ruptions to the slaughtering power of the Word, inricheth it self with Gospel-treasures, feeds its graces upon Gospel provisions, and every way accommodates its self for the im­braces of eternity.

5 There is another command in the Text, (viz.) of fruit­fulness; so the Text, [and shalt honour him.] Now there is nothing more honours God then our holy fruitfulness, this gratisies his Will, this magnifies his Grace, this adorns his Gospel, this glorifies his Name. Our Saviour saith ex­presly, John 15. 8. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. We exceedingly honour God, when on a Sabbath day, we Sint submissi, tractabiles, et sequaces mores. Cyr. weep much in the Closet, pray much in the Familie, hear much in the Sanctuary, when we tremble at Gods Word, rejoyce in Gods Ordinances, melt in Gods presence, when Sabbaths soften us, ripen us, raise us, and bring us to a nearer con­formity to Christ; when this sun-shining day of a Sabbath melloweth us, and maketh us look fairer, and more beautiful: Thus we spread our branches, and Gods Name together.

CHAP. VIII. The Promises in the Text, made over to Sabbath-Holiness, explicated and unfolded.

ANd thus far we have assayed, to unfold the duty en­joyned in the Text, which is the holy and strict ob­servation of the Sabbath; and the Sabbath may be sanctified by forbearing what is criminal, and by pursuing what is commendable: and what is both displeasing or satisfactory, we have amply laid down in the Text, and hitherto hath been discussed. Now we come to the glorious reward of a due sanctification of the Sabbath, which is folded up in a Tria hic prae­mia Sabba­thum, deum (que) colentibus pro­mittit Deus. Alap. Com. in Isaiam. three-fold promise, mentioned in the Text; for one promise is not thought sufficient by divine bounty to be a spur to this holy observation. It must not be a single Diamond, but a Casket of Jewels. Here is a constellation of happiness pro­mised, a Tree of Life with many branches, as if God would tell us in the Text, how pleasing, how grateful, what a Prov. 11. 18. sweet sinelling sacrifice the conscientious keeping of the Sab­bath was to him; such a Saint the Promises troope after him, they cluster together to refresh him; God gives the Bond and the Counterpane too. But more particularly, these promises they are not onely rare, but comprehensive, they are both temporal and spirituall, Gods bonds for left hand and right hand mercies.

And first God promises Ʋbertatem Voluptatis, abundance Prom. 1. Si in Sabbath [...] te abstraxeris [...] deli [...]ii [...] carnis, deus dabit tibi suas delicias longe majores; scil. pro carneis dabit spiritus­les, pro tecipo­ralib [...] aeter­nas, pro huma­nis divinas. Psal 104. 34. Cant. 4. 9. of Pleasure, so the Text, [then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord.] As if God should say, if my Sabbath be thy de­light, then my presence shall be thy delight; if thou take pleasure in my day, thou shall sind pleasure in my self; the same word [...] Gnanag, delight, which is used in the for­mer verse for our delight in the Sabbath, is here used for our delight in the Lord. Our duty shall not exceed his bounty: if we on a Sabbath delight in him, we on a Sabbath shall receive delights from him; God will meet the gracious soul, its breathings after God shall be compensated with his [Page 58] blessings in God, thou shalt never lose by satiating thy self in God, thy understanding shall be delighted with medi­tation, thy desires with satisfaction, thy heart with exhi­leration; he that is an Ocean of delight in himself, shall be thy delight. If thou takest pleasure in Gods holy day, thy heart shall be more sweetned in the thoughts of God, of his Faithfulness, of his Fulness, Incomprehensibleness, Good­ness, Tenderness, then in all sliding and secular delights; for our delights in God are,

1 Most Pure, they are Christalline pleasures without spot or faeculency, they are incapable of excess: The soul may rejoyce Psal. 94. 19. in God, and fear no surfet: There is no tang of sin, or mistake cleaves to them; as holy David, In the multitude of my thoughts Passim Haeresi­arehae et Haeretici fuerunt vo­luptuarii, ea (que) de causâ pluri­mos habuerunt assectus sicut et Epicurus plu­res discipulos habuit, quàm alit Philosophi. Epiph [...]n. within me, thy comforts delight my soul. Now as for the plea­sures of this life, their object is sordid: what is a Field, or a Bag, or a Hawk, or a Hound? The excess is easie, we mostly over-do in outward delights; their satisfaction is sensual, on­ly the smiles and laughter of dust: their time is short; the frolicks of this life, are onely for this life, as long as a va­pour lasts, and their end for the most part is heaviness; a smi­ling countenance, a wanton palate, a catching eye, and a prancing phancy for the most part ending in a heavy heart: But our pleasures in God are holy and undefiled, their rising is their rarity, and their exceeding is their excellency.

2 Our delights in God are most abundant, they exceed the pleasures of this life, as far as the receptive faculty of the Anima nostra delectatione ca­rere nequit; unam si non ha­bet, quaerit, si non divinam, tum humanam. soul exceeds that of the body. A whole world cannot fill the soul, it is too vast in its desires and entertainments; but a little prospect can fill the theatre of the eye, a little wine the wanton vagaries of the palate, a little game the galloping fancies of the hunter. Our pleasures in God, are a soul full of delight, Thy Comforts delight my soul, saith David; they are over-flowing waves of love, rising and ravish­ing Psal. 94. 19. waters, which cover the sea of mans heart.

3: Most satiating. Our pleasures in the Creature cloy us, Our pleasures in God comforts us; outward delights surfet, not Ecles. 1. 2. Voluptas est du­plex, vel Ter­restris, vel Coe­lestis: Coelestes voluptates sari­ant, nonsatur [...]ne & ideò diu­turniores, ter­restres s [...]turant, non satiant; & ideò breviores, quòd etiam jam dileximus, pie­ni quidem pr [...]r­sus nauseamus. Baron. satiate, they have something of the flesh, and that will not alwayes go down. Solomon, the great Chymist of pleasures, [Page 59] at last, after a thorough gust of them, extracted nothing but wind from them, or the waters of Marah, either va­nity or vexation of spirit. But the pleasures we have in God, relate not to the body, which is a tiresome piece of flesh, but to the soul which is full of life and activity, and de­lighting in God, which is its center, finds no Nausea or weariness, but its motions are quicker and sweeter, the nearer they come to the center. As holy David who was much in Communion with God, all his enjoyment of him, did but set him more on longing; nor did the Hart ever run so greedily to the waters, as his soul panted after God, Psal. 42. 1, 2. My soul longeth, saith he; but longings are onely Eccles. 1. 1. Psal. 42. 1, 2. Judges 15. 18. in some cases, Well then, my soul thirsteth, and thirst must be satisfied, or else the thirsty person dies.

But secondly, God promises Ʋbertatem facultatis, abun­dance Prom. 2. Altitudines ter­rae sunt luera rerum, blandi­ment [...] populo­rum, sublimitas dignitatum, a­bundantia o­pum. Greg. Moral. Mat. 6. 32. Sanchez. Musc. Marlorat. Verum August [...] haec dei verb [...], & promissa al­tius et augu li­us quid spectant scil. altitudines Coelorum. Alap. Altitudines ter­rae, i. e. altitu­dines coelorum, quae sunt terra & sedes non morientium, sed viventium. Alap. of Revenue, so the Text; [I will cause thee to ride on the high places of the Earth.] It is very observable here, how a temporal promise is clasped in the armes of two spiri­tual promises; not as if the temporal promise was the evi­dence of greater love, but because God will cast in temporal blessings, as an overplus into the reward of obedience. San­chez takes these high places of the Earth, mentioned in the Text, for the abundance and plenty of earthly increases, and saith, the promise most properly belongs to the Jewes; and to this opinion agrees both Museulus, Marlorat, and so the Septuagint interpret it, and they say, this speech al­ludes to the Mountanous Country of the Jewes, which was abundant, nay, even luxuriant with Vines and Fruits; so that the meaning of the promise may be, That whosoever observes the Sabbath holily, according to the prescribed di­rections, they shall enjoy a richer and larger portion of out­ward things, then the common lot of the world: And this I suppose may be the meaning of this rare promise, although others repine at the straightness of the exposition, and will have some spiritual and more sublime thing included; but leaving others to abound in their own sense, I understand the promise of terrestrial enjoyments; and so it is consonant to another Scripture of the like nature, mentioned in [Page 60] Deut. 32. 13. So that he who observes the Sabbath, God Deut. 32. 13. will not onely provide the banquet, but fill the basket for him; he shall not onely enjoy spiritual comforts, but tempo­ral good things, the very fruitfulness of the Earth shall be his portion.

Obj. But here it may be objected, that these promises men­tioned in the Text, they are made onely to the Jewes, they Fateor haec al­ludi ad illud, quod ait Moses ad Judaeos. Deut. 32. 13. Alap. are Israels monopoly, and therefore they are no ground for Christians to build upon, no promise for a Christian to act his faith upon, suppose he observes Gods holy Sabbath with never so much severity and purity. To which it may thus be replyed.

1 The Gospel is not barren of temporal promises to encou­rage Godliness, a great part of which is the holy observation of the Sabbath; Godliness hath the promise of the life that now 1 Tim. 4 8. is, saith the Apostle. The Gospel hath two breasts of Con­solation, the promise of things temporal, and of things spi­ritual; nay, fuller breasts then the Law hath: And though the high places, mentioned in the Text, may relate to the Vitae quae nunc est, ut scil. hic vitam pacatam longaevam, et rebus omnibus necessariis in­structum agamus. mountanes of Judaea, which were fruitful and feracious, yet Sabbath-holiness, being as grateful in Gospel times, as for­merly, it falls under the promise of the things of this life, which will rise as high as the mountanes of Judaea, The things of this life mentioned by the Apostle, in the forecited place, taking in whatsoever may accomplish the happiness of this life, in its most comprehensive circuit.

2 It is further Replyed, If the holy observation of the Sab­bath be not peculiar to the Jewes, as most certainly it is not, Then whatever promise may be made by way of encou­ragement, The 20th of Exodus and the 12th vers. let it be com­pared with the 6th of the Ephesians and the 3d vers. Where what is promised in the Law, is likewise pro­mised with enlargements in the Gospel. Mat. 11. 30. Rev. 1. 10. cannot be peculiar to the Jewes. The Duty and the Promise alwayes go together, the Service and the Satis­faction. It is very strange that God should leave us Chri­stians the Duty, and give them, the Jewes, the Promise; we onely should act the toyle, and they injoy the triumph; how inconsistent is this with the easiness of Christs Yoak? Chri­stians, if they act high duties, they shall ride upon high places. It must not be denyed, if making the Sabbath our delight be­long not to us, neither do the high places of the Earth; but [Page 61] who can rise to so great impudence, as to deny the former? And therefore if we must be in the spirit on the Lords day, we must not be denyed to be the inheritours of the fatness of the Lords Earth.

3 Nay, once more it is answered, That the promises made to the Jewes were for the most part temporal, and those made to Christians, for the most part spiritual, yet did not Deut. 30. 19. Isa. 1. 9. 1 Tim. 6. 6. Magnum lu­crum piet [...]s est; affert secum quicquid ho­mini satis est. Maldon. the Jewes temporal promises exclude spiritual, nor the Chri­stians spiritual promises exclude temporal, but our obedience keeps the Key, which opens to both promises, to the Jew, and to the Gentile, and so in this particular case. A holy deportment upon Gods blessed Sabbath must be the readiest way to make both Jew and Gentile happy and prosperous; the one before, the other since the coming of Jesus Christ: And we must leave this rich promise in the Text, to be the Crown of Sabbath holiness, to the Saints under and after the Law.

But thirdly, God promises ubertatem sanctitatis, abun­dance Prom. 3. Tertium est hoc Sabbati, dei (que) cultus praemi­um; q. d. Dabo tibi insig­nia illa b [...]na, quae promisi A­brahae, Isaaco et Jacobo scil. delicias, et di­vitias gratiae coelestis, a [...] de­inde gloriae, et aeternae fae­licitatis in [...]lo. Alap. of spiritual grace, so runs the Text; [And feed thee with the Heritage of Jacob thy Father.] Interpreters gene­rally understand this promise of things spiritual, and su­pernatural; that the holy keeping of the Sabbath shall be crowned with the blessings of the upper springs, with rich gifts, heavenly graces, with the riches of heaven, with the treasures from the mines above; Alludit ad terram Judaeis promissam; quae praefigurabat sedem longe altiorem; Sic cibabo illos epulis coeli, saith holy Hierome; He alludes to the promi­sed Land of the Jewes, which onely typisied and prefigured a better Country, a Country to come, saith that excellent Fa­ther. To the same purpose speaks Cyril and Procopius. Those who conscienciously observe the Sabbath, they shall have outward enjoyments, and they shall be onely pledges of 1 Cor. 2. 9. Vides hîc, ô Christiane, quanta deus st [...]tuerit prae­mia, misericor­diae, et pietati. better enjoyments, the pawns and earnests of enjoyments more glorious. As if the Lord should say, As I led Jacob from the temporal promise of an earthly Canaan, to the promise of a heavenly; so will I do with thee, if thou observe my Sabbaths, thou shalt have a Jacobs reward; and what that is, our Saviour instructs us, Luk. 13. 28. where he saith, Luke 13. 28. [Page 62] You shall see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and all the Pro­phets in the Kingdom of God. Thus God he reduplicates his better promises on the heads of those who carefully keep his Gen. 25. 33. Gen. 22. 36. Gen. 32. 28. Sabbath; they shall have the Heritage of Jacob, who gain­ed both the Birth-right and the Blessing; they shall enjoy the Primogeniture, the first born of Mercies, nay Mercies with the Blessing, with the Fathers Benediction too; they shall succeed in Jacobs Heritage, who was mighty, and prevailed with God, who foyled the Angel in his spiritual Combat, and had the honour to have his Name and Cùm haec verba ex animo, si­mul (que) oculos circumfero, vi­deo (que) quàm pau­ci sunt, qui delectentur in Domino sabba­ti (que) &c. Escucheon changed, and into such a name as included the Name of God himself, [...] El being the close of [...] Is­rael, and [...] El is one of Gods own Titles. And truly here we may take up the contemplation of a learned man, who exa­mining and surveying these pretious promises, was taken with a great admiration, that so few should act the Duty in the Text, should be conscientious in Sabbath Observances, Hoc lugendum est, et magno­perè plangen­dum, inquit Forerius. perswading himself, that the diviness of these promises, might captivate the most refractory and disingenious; and at last he concludes with moans, that so few in the world should be taken with so rich a bait. To which I shall on­ly add, we may here see how much infidelity, influences the hearts of most; for surely, did we not look upon these rare promises, as bonds without a seal, the Revenue of them would bride us to the most accurate and spiritual observa­tion of Gods holy day; our reward would make the Sab­bath our delight, and the greatness of the gain would in­force Mat. 16. 8. us to attempt this excellent piece of godliness. But the Quando doctri­nam Christi intra animum non perpendi­mus, nec ad praxinreducere nitimur, ex hoc oritur occaeca­tio cordis, et [...]. Chemnit. 1 Sam. 15. 29. world is fallen under the same rebukes as once the Disci­ples did, O ye of little faith, why reason you among your selves? saith Christ, why question you the publick faith of Heaven, to the neglect of a duty so transcendently beneficial? And in the conclusion of the whole Text, we have the seal and confirmations of this Charter of blessings, [for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it] and let us be fully assured with the greatest certainty, that the strength of Israel will not lye nor repent, for he is not a man that he should repent.

CHAP. IX. The Doctrinal observation comprised in the Text, propounded and proved.

HAving thus taken in pieces the Text, by a large and co­pious explication, I shall now set it together again in a solemn and serious observation, (viz.)

Doctr. That God hath lockt up many rich blessings in sweet and sure promises, for those who spiritually and conscientiously observe his holy day.

Thus the Inventory in the Text presents us with de­lights for the inward man, with supplies for the outward, Isa. 56. 2. with a reserve of happiness for them both. Such shall suc­ceed in the Heritage of Jacob, who keep holily the Sabbath; Now to Jacob, God was his protection here, and his portion hereafter. There is no Duty wears a richer Crown in the performance of it, then the serious observation of the Sab­bath; for besides the pleasures, riches, and grace promi­sed in the Text, the Lord, Jer. 17. 24, 25, 26. gives Jer. 17. 24, 25, 26. us additional promises; the words recorded in the Text quoted are these; And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken to me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burdens through the Gates of this City on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sab­bath day to do no work therein; then shall there enter into the Nota hunc lo­cum pro cultu Sabbati apud Judaeos, et diei dominicae apud Christianos. Alap. gates of this City Kings and Princes sitting upon the Throne of David, riding in Chariots, and on Horses, they and their Princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this City shall remain for ever; and they shall come from the Cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the Land of Benjamin, and from the Plain, and from the Mountanes, and from the South, bringing burnt Offerings and Sacrifices, and Meat-offerings, and Incense, and bringing sa­crifices of praise unto the house of the Lord. See in this Scri­pture, in these two verses, a heap of rich promises, more va­luable then a pile of Diamonds, a mountane of Spices, or a [Page 64] rock set with Pearls. The promises clustered and piled up in these verses, they are considerable in a five-fold notion.

1 They are full of pomp and splendour, Kings entering into the Gates of the City. Where the Sabbath is duly observed, Prosperity shall guild that Nation; their Princes shall be Pace, gloriâ, et vebus prosperis erunt affluen­tes: Currus et equi sunt gloria regum. Gen. 25. 27. Mat. 6. 29. resplendent, their Nobles flourish, their Potentates shine, in the dazling rayes of glory; such a people shall not onely suc­ceed in the heritage of Jacob, who dwelt in Tents, but in the flourish of Solomon, who dwelt in Palaces. The holy keeping of the Sabbath sheds beams of honour and renown upon a Nation.

2 These promises they are full of largeness and amplitude; they are not personal, so much as national. A good observa­tion of the Sabbath, can diffuse mercies, scatter them up and Quum nihil, aut parum esset praesidii [...] urbe tuendâ et con­servando regni statu, Jeremias promisit tan­quam singulare dei benefi [...]ium, Reges fore sta­biles cum suis proceribus; et extendit Pro­pheta fructum hujus promissi­onis ad totum corpus, non tan­tùm ad proceres sed ad plebem, tanquam sociam hujus benedictionis, et gratiae dei: Regnum erectum erit, et totus populus cog­noscet se agere sub fide, et tutelâ Dei. Calvin. down a Land: So the Text makes mention of Kings, and Magistrates of Publick Authority, Cities, places of publick Receit. The good keeping of the Sabbath procures pub­lick benefits, opens the store-houses of blessings to Cities and Nations, it is the rise and spring of Epidemical happi­ness. And our own Nation formerly, in the strict observa­tion of Gods holy day, did tast the sweetness of these Cata­racts of mercy; it lay under national happiness, and pro­sperous abundance, to the wonder and astonishment of all the world: nor was our felicity in the wain, till the Inha­bitants of this Land grew loose and careless on Gods holy day, and then it fell under the shadows of sore and dismall afflictions; and our Sun was darkned, and made the world wonder, gazing at its Eclipse.

3 They are full of stability; so the very words of the Text; And this City shall remain for ever. Mercies they are more Heb. 7. 25. Christus in coelo, orat pro nobis tanquam Pontifex. Hap. sweet; by how much they are the more stable. Duration it felicitates and enriches every possession. Christ is the chief­est good, because he ever lives to make intercession for us. Those sweets are pretious which are permanent; and there­fore the grace of the spirit is more valuable then the Gold 1 Pet. 1. 7. [Page 65] of Ophir, for Gold is perishing Gold; Now these pro­mises 1 Pet. 1. 18. are of permanent good things, and so the more tran­scendent. The holy observation of the Sabbath, it intails Ʋrbi erit salva sivere et piè colat deum, id (que) testatur obser­vatione Sab­bathi. Calv. mercy and blessings on a Person, upon a Family, or a City. Mercy shall not be our physick, but our food: It lengthens our dayes of prosperity. If thou wouldest put thy owne name, and the names of thy Family into a long lease of Grace and Favour, be very strict in Sabbath Observation.

4 They are full of impartiality, Sabbath-holiness shall shed a blessing on City and Country, so the Text; They shall come from the Cities of Judah, from the places about Jerusalem, Jeremias hic planè signifi [...]at communem f [...]re hanc b [...]a­titu [...]inem tot [...] populo from the Plain, from the Mountanes, &c. This blessed perfor­mance of Sabbath sanctity, it shall prosper the Citizen; and the Country man, the Shop, the Farme, the Cottage, nay, the poor inhabitant of the mountanes, who hath but a shed or a Cave to shelter him, shall not be exempted the dewes of this benediction. The holy observation of Sabbaths knows no distinction of persons.

5 They are full of spirituality. They shall bring burnt offer­ings and sacrifices, and meat offerings, and incense; so the Text. The due observation of the Sabbath, shall procure soul-mercies, affluences for our better part, the sweets of Ordinances, divine Influences, rich Graces, coelestial Com­munications, not onely the redundancies of outward pro­sperity, Jerusalem flo­rebit, templu [...] ­que mirè fre­quentabitur. but the participations of better prosperity; It shall fill our understandings with light, our minds with refresh­ment, and our hearts with joy. They that have delight in the Sabbath of God, shall find delight in the God of the Sab­bath, Christ shall be their Paradise. We have now seen what treasures of temporal and spiritual riches are laid up in this blessed Scripture; and what need there any other bait to catch our affections, to love, and keep Gods holy Sabbath? This duty is an heir of the sweetest promises, such a duty as may seem to carry the Key of Gods choysest trea­sures about it. God saith to him who holily observes his day, as once Ahasuerus said to Hester, What is thy request, Esther 5. 3. and it shall be given thee? Indeed, not a holy sigh, not an affe­ctionate prayer, not a savoury discourse, not a heavenly duty, [Page 66] not a divine meditation, which is shot up to Heaven on a Sabbath day, shall lose its reward: Holy sacrifices are then more especially a sweet smelling savour in the nostrils of Gen. 8. 21. God. It was a rare promise God made to the Eunuch, who kept his Sabbath, Isa. 56. 4, 5. the words run thus; For thus saith the Lord to the Eunuchs that keep my Sabbath, and choose the things which please me, and take hold on my Co­venant, Isa. 56. 4, 5. even to them will I give in my house, and within my walls, a place, and a name, better then of sons and daughters; and I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut Nomen (i. e.) memoria, fama, gloria; Hanc enim filii pa­rentibus conci­liant. off. Thus if Eunuchs keep Gods Sabbath, God will re­pair all their contempts in the World, and they shall be had in everlasting remembrance; and though their grave bury all the memory of them in silence, because they have no pro­geny to bear up their name, yet their name shall be engra­ven in Gods house, which shall out-vie the duration of the most numerous off-spring. Nay, the Lord, as if he was un­wearied in making bonds of love to the holy observation of his Sabbath, makes a rich promise to the very strangers; so Isa. 56. 6, [...]. the Text, Isa. 56. 6, 7. the words are these; Also the sons of the strangers, that joyn themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the Name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my Covenant, even them will I bring to my holy Mountane, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offer­ings, and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon my Altar. Here God makes a three-fold promise of the best kind, (viz.) spiritual, to the very strangers who keep his Sabbaths unde­filed.

1 First, They shall enjoy the Ordinances, I will bring them to my Holy Mountane, saith God. Those who sanctifie the Sab­bath, they shall not want a Sabbath to sanctifie; they shall Isa. 25. 6. Per convivium medullatorum, [...]en intelligun­tur carnales, sed s [...]irituales deliciae, et summae voluptates. enjoy seasons of prayer, opportunities of love, means of grace, and feed upon the fat things of Gods house. Gods Sabbaths are fastned by an holy improvement, and fledged to be gone by a careless abuse. Nothing so ensures our Sab­baths, as a conscientious observation.

2 Secondly, They shall be refreshed by Ordinances: I will make them joyfull in my house of Prayer: Prayer shall be their Pa­radise, hearing their Heaven, meditation their Triumphant flight, Sacraments their savoury meat, which their souls shall delight in: All the Ordinances shall be as the holy Alym­becks Gen. 27 4. to drop sweetness into the soul of him, who undefiledly keeps the Sabbath.

3 Thirdly, They shall be accepted in Ordinances. God will fill the Temple where they meet with smoake, they shall have sure signs of his presence, fire shall fall down upon their 1 Kings 8 10 sacrifices, as a testimony of Gods acceptation. And all this the very strangers shall enjoy, those who are not inoculated in­to 1 Kings 18 38. a Jewish stock, but onely transplanted from some other Nation, now joyning with the people of God; all which abundantly shews how gratefull the holy observation of the Exod. 20. 8. Sabbath is to God. And indeed when

• 1 First, The Author of the Sabbath is holy,
• 2 Secondly, The Duties holy,
• 3 Thirdly, The Command holy, Exod. 20. 8.
• 4 Fourthly, The Day holy,

5 Nay, Fifthly, The Designe holy, (viz.) to carry on the work of Grace and Holiness on our souls; it must needs b [...] very acceptable, we our selves should be holy, our thoughts, Sicut in vitiis, qui ingratum [...]ixerit, omnia dixerit; Ita in divinis [...]ffi [...]iis, qui Sabbatum dicit; omnia dicit. Acts 20. 7. our desires, our services, our discourses, our actions on this blessed day. One who prophanes the Sabbath, he is the scandal, the abuse, the spot, the deflouring reproach of this holy day, the Antipodes of the Sabbath. In the Primitive times, the Saints made a Collection of Duties, as well as of Charity, as if no part of that day should run over to any impertinency.

1 First, And what a strange prophaness, nay, prodigality doth it import, that for the gratifying of our vanity, a wanton Prophaners of Gods Sab­baths, they are prodigal of divine pro­mises. palate, a voluptuous inclination, a little fleshly ease, the covetous craving after an unseasonable gain, the purchase of a little waste time upon a Sabbath, we should disinherit our selves of all that superlative happiness, those many promises folded up in Scripture have made over to a strict obser­vation of that holy day, this blessed Sabbath? What in­humane [Page 68] and frantick prodigality doth this imply?

2 Nay, such are prodigal, not onely of their own good, but of Gods honour. This is one of his ten words, charged by the Creator of Heaven and Earth upon man; Remember the They are pro­digal of Gods honour. Sabbath day to keep it holy; and the engrossing of this charge, God doth not leave to any Amanuensis, but he will write it Exod. 20. 8. with his own singer, and also to intimate that his intentions were to perpetuate this (with other precepts of the deca­logue) in the morality thereof. The Lord himself imprint­ed Deut. 4. 13. it not in paper, but upon tables of stone; yea, when the first tables of stone were broken, his Majesty gives express order to Moses, to have other tables, like to the former pre­pared, and he wrote thereon the same Law the second time. Exod. 34. 1, 28. Praecide tibi, (i. e.) in tuam [...]ilitatem. Rab. Sol. As the Lord delighted in the first institution of the Sabbath, so he accounts himself honoured in its sanctification; and his complaint, and charge is against them, who are regardless of his Sabbath; I am prophaned amongst them; and what do those who prophane his Sabbath, but break the tables of Ezek 22. 26. stone the second time, and cast a dishonour upon him, who delights to be called the Lord of the Sabbath? Mark 2. 28.

3 Nay, the prophaners of the Sabbath are highly prodigal of Gods favour, for they provoke him by the sin of sacriledge; for it being the Sabbath, and the Lords day, that time is stoln Such are pro­digal of Gods favour. from God himself which is spent otherwise then he allow­eth; and how sad is this robbery and theft? And that smart sentence which was misapplyed unto Christ (for he strictly kept the Sabbath of the Lord his God) may be applyed to John 9. 16. Sabbathi pro­phanatio, con­temptus est to­tius legis dei, et divini cul­tus. Leid. Prof. that person, who is an ordinary prophaner of this holy time, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the Sabbath day. And indeed according to a mans regard, or disregard of the Sabbath, is his respect, or disrespect to all the rest of Gods Com­mandments. The Sabbath observed, is the comp [...]ndium and Epitome of the whole practice of Piety; and the trans­gression of the Sabbath, is the violation of the whole Law of Sub observa­tione Sabbati, breviter com­prehenditur, s [...]mma t [...]tius Pre [...]atis. Calv. Exod. 16. 28. God. When the people of Israel went to gather Manna on the Sabbath day, observe Gods complaint to Moses, Exod. 16. 28. How long refuse ye to keep my Commandments and my Laws, saith the Lord. Observe Laws and Command­mentts, [Page 69] in the plural number; in that they break the Com­mandment Totum divinum cultum, suo am­bitu complecti­tur Sabbathum. August. ad Casulanum. Concil. Paris. Lib. 3. Cap. 5. of the Sabbath, God accounts it as the breach of all his Commandments; it is a sin against all his concern­ments. It was a memorable saying of Augustine, Let us shew our selves Christians by keeping holy the Lords day. And the Council of Paris, We do admonish all the faithfull for the salvation and good of their souls, that they would give due ho­nour and reverence unto the Lords day; because the dishonour of it, is both contrary to Christian Religion, and doth without all doubt bring destruction to the souls of all that continue in it. And Bulling. Con­cio. 65. holy Bullinger observes, He that despiseth the Sabbath, makes no great account of the true Religion. The Prophets when they Ezek. 20. 16. Ezek. 22. 8. Ezek. 23 38. would complain of the decay of Religion, they cry out, the Sabbaths polluted. Indeed in the not observing Gods holy day, there is not onely impiety, but great disingenuity, for the Ezek. 20. 12. Ezek. 20. 20. Sabbath is given us, not as a task, but as a priviledge, to be a pledge of our interest in God, and a confirmation of our hope Heb. 4. 4, 5, 8, 9. of further sanctification, as also of our everlasting Sab­batisme, or rest, after our wearisom wandrings in this world; it is given for the sweetning of our wilderness-way unto the heavenly Canaan; it is our spiritual feasting every week; it is our day of delight; in this day St. John was in his Sabbathum de­licatum, quia delicatè, et tenerè est ob­servandum. divine rapture, and no doubt but many of Gods dear ser­vants, have abundant experience of spiritual cordials, gi­ven in upon the conscientious keeping of this day, and St. John's Garments of joy have fell in some measure upon 2 Kings 2. 13. them.

CHAP. X. There must be serious preparation before the solemn day of the Sabbath.

HAving thus in general discussed the Doctrine propound­ed, I come now to a more particular handling and ventilation of it, and in so doing,

First, Lay down divers duties, which are to fore-run the Sabbath.

2 Secondly, Lay down a plat-form, how we must spend eve­ry part of Gods holy day.

3 Thirdly, Give divers rules for the more compleat and strict observation of the Sabbath.

4 Fourthly, Propose many cautions to prevent the pollution of this blessed day: With many other things which will oc­cur for the more manifest enucleation and confirmation of the doctrinal truth propounded.

But to begin with the first thing proposed, (viz.) what we must do by way of preparation for this 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 sole [...]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 i [...] tempore aufer­rentur, Fideles pridiè Sabbati divino mandato om [...]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 [Page 71] 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.

1 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 qu [...] (que) in hoc praece­pto certo r [...]spe­ctu, m [...]rale est, scil. u [...] diebus antecedentibus omnia nostra, quantum fieri potest, ita i [...]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?

2 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 [Page 72] 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?

3 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 in­quam, animus ad eandem quo (que) sanctifi­cationem ritè preparetur. Wal. of Canaan, so were they filled with Corn, when they came to Joseph in Aeygpt: And according as we prepare our hearts at home in the week time, so our comfortable fillings shall be, when we come before the Lord on his own day. He that expects from his field a large crop, and a plenteous har­vest, must before hand take pains in plowing, and well pre­paring [Page 73] the ground; we do not before hand take preparatory pains, and that is the reason we reap so little in Sabbath-time; man naturally is slow of heart, Luke 24. 25. Duty and In­dustry must help Nature, that so our sluggish hearts may be fitted for the receiving of those blessings which usually at­tend the Sabbath day. Emptied vessels take in the liquor. Pruned Vines become fruitfull and feracious: And dressed Gardens cast the sweetest smells. And so the heart mollified with penitential tears, pruned by resolute mortification, and turned up by frequent search, will be accommodate for the magnificent plantations of Sabbath graces.

4 Of Zeal and Fervency. Can we observe the several Holy-dayes to have their Eves, wherein some Service and Liturgy must be used for preparation? The Chappels and Cathe­drals [...]. Hippo. must be frequented, and prayers must be made, be­cause some Saints day is approaching; and the neglect of this duty is adjudged an indignity by many great ones in the Church. Shall a day dedicated to a Saint, to an Apostle, to a Martyr, be ushered in with preparatory services, and must the holy Sabbath, the day dedicated to the Lord Jesus, God bles­sed Rom. 9. 5. Christus est deus [...] super om­nes, aut super omnia eodem sensu. Par. for ever, have no Eve, no preparatory duties, no ser­vices to proclaim its coming? But the preceding day must be spent in a more eager pursuit of the World; then we fre­quent the Markets, mind our shops, reckon with our work­men, pierce further into the night for our worldly business, and we catch greedily after the flying week now drawing towards an end; what is this but to give more honour to the Saints day then the Sabbath day, to an ordination of the Church, then an institution of Christ? Shall the blessed Sab­bath have no evidence, no sign of its coming, no preparatory Prayers, no precursory pains? Must the holy days Eve have the Cathedral for service, and not the Sabbath Eve have the Closet for preparation? Where is our zeal for Gods ho­nour, and Gods day? It is very strange, that the Saints Fe­stivals should be introduced with greater solemnity then Christs holy day; Surely this doth not become the Chri­stian, who is, or should be sick of love with his beloved. Cant. 2. 5.

5 Of Holy Ingenuity. Shall we be out-vied by the Jewes, the vagabond Jewes in our preparations for the Sabbath? Shall they be so exact, and we so negligent? Let not a bla­sphemous Jew rise up in judgement against us. And here I shall open the care of the Jewes in preparing for the Sabbath. Scalig. de Emend. temp. Lib. 6 p. 261. The Jewes formerly gave, and for the present do give, very solemn and great honour to their Sabbath. The week days they called [...] Cholim, Prophane; as the Greeks call them [...] working days: and in respect of the different degrees of holiness of dayes, the Sabbath day is not un­fitly Scalig. de Emend. temp. Lib. 6. p. 269. compared to a Queen, or to those who are termed pri­mary Wives, other feast dayes to Concubines or half-wives, working dayes to Hand-maids. The Jewes began the Sab­bath at six of the clock the night before; And this the Grae­cians called [...]. And the Hebrews [...] [...] Biath Hasabbath, the enterance of the Sabbath. Their pre­paration Joseph. Anti. lib. 16. cap 10. to the Sabbath began at three of the clock in the afternoon, which the Hebrews call [...] Gnereb ha-Sabbath, the Sabbath Eve, and this the Fathers called Cae­nam [...] puram, the pure Supper, the phrase being borrowed In vitibus Pa­ganorum coen [...] pura appellaba­tur illis apponi solita, qui in ca­sto erant, quod Graeci dicunt [...] Isa. Causab. Mark 15. 42. Luke 23. 54. from the Pagans, whose Religion taught them in their sa­crifices to certain of their Gods and Goddesses, to prepare themselves by a strict kind of holiness (observe the very Heathens prepared for their sacrifices to their Idol Gods and Goddesses:) This preparation for the Sabbath is by the Evangelist called [...], a preparation, Mark 15. 42. whose words are these, And now when Even was come (be­cause it was the preparation (i. e.) the day before the Sab­bath.) To the same purpose the Evangelist Luke, Luk. 23. 54. And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on. And among the Jews the whole day was a kind of pre­paration; for on this preparation day they might not go more then three Parsoth; now a Parsa contained so much ground, as an ordinary man might go ten of them in a day; and Judges on this day might not sit in Judgement upon life and death, &c. And so carefull were the Jews of observing the time of their preparation for the Sabbath, that the best Buxtorf. Sy­nag. Judaic. Cap. 10 [...] [...]almud. and wealthiest of them, even those who had many servants, [Page 75] did with their own hands further the preparation; so that sometimes the Masters themselves they would chop herbs, sweep the house, cleave▪wood, kindle the fire, and such like. In old time, they proclaimed the preparation with noyse of Trumpets or Horns; but now the modern Jewes proclaim it by the Sexton, or some under Officer of the Church, whom they call [...] Shihach Tsibbur, the [...] Hospin. de Fest. Jud. messenger of the Congregation; and this messenger advised them, that they should prepare seasonably for the worthy Ce­lebration of the Sabbath. Hospinian tells us, (and his te­stimony is Authentical) that when the Sexton gives notice of the approaching Sabbath, that then they prepared all those meats they were to feed upon the succeeding Sab­bath, and put them upon a table covered with a clean cloth, then they washed their heads, pared their nails, and pre­pared their Sabbath apparel. The Sun setting, the woman Occidente sole, mulieres lumi­na Sabbataria accendunt, & mulier quae (que) domi, ambas suas manus ver­sus lumen ex­pandit, et pre­catiunculam quandam pecu­liarem demur­murat. Hosp. Cum aliqui lon­giore spatio iti­ [...]eris ab hospi­tio aut aedib [...] suis abiit, die Veneris, quàm die Sabbatino conficere licet, in agris, vel mediâ sylvâ ubicun (que) ille sit, manere, et ibidem quiescere, et Sabbatum servare, neglecto omni peri­culo, et injuriâ cibi et po [...]us debet. Hosp. The day before the Sabbath, the Jews called Sabbatulum, the little Sabbath, on which they made ready against the great day of the Sabbath. of the house sets up lights, and a short prayer being made, then they go into the Synagogue, and in their going, wish one another a joyfull Sabbath; and when they return, they spread the table with some provisions, and alwayes set salt on the table, to intimate an inward savouriness, and they put on two loaves of bread, and then give thanks in these words, Blessed art thou O Lord our God, the King of the World, who brings forth bread out of the ground; and then the Master of the Family breaks some to those, who sit down with him, and in a larger quantity then at other times, for the honour of the Sabbath, for then sparingness is intolera­ble. And the same Author Hospinian observes, that when any person is further from his home on the Friday, then he can reach to observe the Sabbath strictly, he remains where he was, in the fields, or in the middle of a wood, and wil­lingly incounters any hazzard, and the want of meat or drink, rather then he will intrench upon the holy Sabbath. [Page 76] And thus exact the Jewes are in bodily and spiritual prepara­tions; they would not prophane the Sabbath with an un­pared nail; they wash their heads to betoken inward purga­tion; they set up lights to denote spiritual illumination; they go into the Synagogue the day before the Sabbath, to fit them for the sanctuary on the holy day of the Sabbath; Joseph Jud. Antiq. Lib. 16. Cap. 10. and these Jewes were so conscientious in these preparations, that Josephus reports, it was taken notice of all the World over, insomuch that Caesar Augustus upon some complaint, wrote unto every Province where the Jewes resided, That it was his pleasure, that the Jewes should enjoy their an­cient Is it not meet for Christians, whose Sab­bath exceeds that of the Jews, to pre­pare them­seves there­unto? We have no sheep or oxen to prepare; we have the more time to make ready our hearts and souls for spi­ritual service. Mr. G. Priviledges, and among the rest, that they should not be compelled to appear before any Judge on their Sabbath dayes, or the day before their Sabbaths after nine of the clock upon their preparation dayes. Their Conscientious Religion in this particular, procured them favour with Heathen Princes, the Roman Emperour, and obtained indulgence for them. And shall the Jew be so accurate and diligent in his preparations, and the Christian so loose and careless? Doth the knowledge of Christ no more influence us? Let us even blush to be out-done by a rejected and obstinate Jew, the Son of a Curse, which adheres to that Generation from Age to Age. Shall those branches which are cut off, as the Apostle speaks, spread in their carefull and dutifull obser­vances, and we who are branches growing on the stock, be contracted, and fall short in a due and necessary composing of our selves for the Lords day, the weekly memorial of our Rom. 11. 21. Lords Resurrection? Surely it will be more tolerable for Rom. 11. 17. Jerusalem and Samaria in the day of judgement, then for Mat. 11. 21. many Christians, who wreaking out of the world, rush upon Sabbaths without the pauses and interpositions of a due pre­paration. But happily now some being evinced, would set upon the work, did they fully understand it; they would keep a Sabbath Eve, did they know how legitimately and suitably to spend it: Therefore the next Chapter shall be the clew to lead us into this Labyrinth.

CHAP. XI. What those Preparatory Duties are, that must fore-run the Sabbath.

THus far we have travelled to assert the duty, that we must prepare for Gods holy day; our next task is, to unfold and open the duty, how we should prepare for a Sab­bath. Every one who takes the pencil into his hand, can­not draw a Picture, Preparation for the Sabbath is easier confessed then understood, and many can sooner acknowledge then give an account of it; and that we may therefore nei­ther erre in the omitting, nor yet in the doing of it, we must understand, Sabbath preparation compriseth these several du­ties.

1 We must the day before the Sabbath, for some time se­quester our selves wholly from the world, and all the affairs of it; we must for some time make off from worldly hinderances, as Mariners that intend a voyage to Sea, they put off the ship from Land; so if we mean to serve God on the Sab­bath, our hearts and minds must be off from the world. Put off thy shooes, saith God to Moses, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. We must put off earthly affecti­ons, Exod. 3. 5. for the day we are approaching to, is a holy day. A Bird, saith Musculus, That she may fly, she fluttereth with her Musc. Loc. Com. Praecep. Quarto. wings, and frees her self all she can, from what may hinder her flight: And shall not we throw off before-hand what may hinder our flight upon a Sabbath, or stop us in our careire to Jesus Christ? The Jewes were angry with the man who carried his bed upon a Sabbath day. How many carry their Joh. 5. 10. beds before the Sabbath, lie sleeping on the downe of carnal pleasures, and temporal profits, and do not awaken to compose themselves for the Glorious Sabbath of God; they lie snorting in carnal ease, and prepare not for spiritual en­joyments. That Christ might make us a Sabbath to keep, in body he first rose from the earth. In heart we must rise from the earth, before we can well keep the Sabbath Christ [Page 78] hath made. One well observes, That a total sequestring of Mr. Walk. our selves from all worldly business, and putting away all earth­ly thoughts, cares and delights, will cleanse the affections from dross, and make room for the entrances of holiness, for spiritual Praeparemur ad Sabbatum, ne spinis ac curis hujus seculi, quibus cor ho­minis eo tem­pore obsidetur, incrementum, et fructus verbi divini in [...]er [...]i­piatur, et evel­latur ex animis nostris; ut Chri­stus in Para­bola seminantis abundantèr do­cet. Wal. devotion, and the motions of the Holy Ghost; (and he gives this reason) For no man can serve two Masters at once, God, and the World: Let us therefore by way of preparation cast out earthly and carnal thoughts, and spiritual and heavenly affections will the more easily enter, and be predominant. So then in the first place, we must set apart some time for the trimming and rigging of the soul, to be fit to launch into a Sabbath; we must come off from the stage of the World, in­to the tyring room, quietly and spiritually to compose our selves for the heavenly employment of the subsequent day; there must be a pause and cessation from the entangling warfare of the world. And we must enter into our Clo­sets, and commune with our hearts, and be still, that so advisedly we may enter upon the souls harvest day. Psal. 4. 4

2 The second Duty preparatory to the Sabbath, is holy Me­ditation. We must meditate on those things which may quicken grace in our hearts,

1 First, As chiefly upon the greatness, holiness, and in­finite Majesty of the Lord, before whom we are to appear Sit et nobis pa­rasceue non tan­tùm q [...]ae domos sed quae animos ad sacra festa peragenda prae­paret. Musc. Gen. 41. 14 the approaching Sabbath, and to present our selves when the light of the day cometh; this will certainly move, and stir up spiritual devotion and affection, as we see by experience in worldly things, how carefull we are to trimme and fit our selves, when we are to go to an earthly King, or some great Nobles.

2 And in the next place, let us meditate what holiness and purity, especially of heart and soul is required in using the Lev. 20. 7. 1 Pet. 1. 15, 16. holy Ordinanoes of God, and in approaching near to him. And that Holiness which becomes the blessed Sabbath, and the Ordinances of it, is the putting on humility, mercy, Humilitas pri­mum, medium, & ultimum in Scholâ Christi. Alap. meekness, and all other affections, and departing from all iniquity, 2 Tim. 2. 19. It is the Image of Christ in the New Creature, which is created after God in Righteousness and Holiness; Eph. 4. 24. This is the embroydery we are to Eph. 4. 24. [Page 79] wear, when we meet with the King of Saints on his own day. Rev. 15. 3.

3 We are to meditate on those Scriptures which require holy preparation, as Eccles. 5. 1. which shews Gods anger against such who approach his presence in an unprepared frame, Eccles. 5. 1. Mat. 22. 12. The wise Virgins trimmed their lamps before they entered the Bride-Chamber; and we must trimme our Mat. 22. 12. selves before we enter the Presence-Chamber upon the so­lemn day of his appearance. God disgusts mans regardlesness; Mat. 25. 7. and a curious plaiting of the soul pleases our Beloved: The harder our labour is to fit our selves for Gods presence, the sweeter will our wages be, in the influences of that presence.

4 Let us meditate on that whereof the Sabbath is a signe and a pledge, (viz.) Our resurrection to Eternal Life, and to the Eternal Rest of Glory in Heaven, in the fight and fruition of God, whom none can see without holiness. And Tertiam re­quiem notat A­tostolus. Heb. 4. 7. quae per duas praeceden­tes, (scil.) per requiem Sab­bati, et requiem in Canaan ana­gogicè fue­rit significata, quam nobis praestat Jesus Christus. Heb. 12. 14. Heb. 12. 2. this will be most powerfull to stir up spiritual affection, and to quicken Grace in our hearts. Our life should be a con­tinual preparation for our Eternal Sabbath; and some time should be granted for a temporary preparation for our weekly Sabbath, we should be very active in this work, and despise the toyle and trouble, looking to the joy that is set before us, where­of the weekly Sabbath is to every Saint a happy Harbinger.

3 Thirdly. Our third Duty which must precede the holy observation of the Sabbath, is self examination, and this is two fold:

1 First, External. We must reflect back upon the past week, and review our Erratas; sin before must be found out, least we come to Sabbath-work, with week-day guilt. On the Saturday in the Evening, we must cast up our spiritual ac­counts, and when we have found the Jonah, cast him over­board Jon. 1. 15. by holy faith, and serious repentance. It is very un­seemly to keep a Sabbath with our filthy Garments, with Zach. 3. 4. unwashen hearts, with untuned tongues, with untamenting eyes, with unrepented sins. When Joseph was to come into Gen. 41. 14. the presence of Pharaoh he shaved himself, and changed his rayment, and came in to Pharaoh; And shall not we throw [Page 80] off our sinfull incumberances, and put off our prison clothes, our noysome irregularities by diligent search, and holy repen­tance, when the day draws on, and we are to come into the Effunde cortuum, sicut aqu [...]m coram facie Domini, extolle ad eum manus tuas pro remedio pecca­torum tuorum, accipe igitur lamentum. Hier. presence of the great God? Our memories should be the sur­veyours to view, and our consciences the secretaries to set down, our hearts the mourners to lament the sins of the week; that Christ would bring his spunge to blot them out, before Gods holy day comes upon us. It is observable, those herbs rise high in the Summer time, that in the Winter shrink lowest in the ground; and those hearts that in the week-time are laid lowest, they rise highest upon the Sab­bath day: There must be soul-humblings for the daily tres­passes of the week, else the day of Gods service comes, but we cannot comfortably and confidently serve God on that day, especially if any fouler spot hath deformed any day of Josh. 24. 19. the week.

2 Secondly, But there must be an inward examination, as well as an outward, a search into our thoughts, our de­sires, our delights, our dispositions, what they have been the foregoing week; we must examine the passages of our souls, how it hath fared with the inward man. The Psalmist com­mands heart communion, a serious discourse concerning the Psal. 4. 4. behaviours of the heart. As the Shop-keeper casts up his Ex corde, vita et actio pro­cedit. accounts, not onely concerning his debts abroad, but his wares at home; He turns every piece in the chest, to see how it goes with his estate. We must dive into our souls, and see what growth of grace, what decays of corruption; what or­naments and additional beauty we have gained all the week before; whether Christ hath given us new bracelets Ezek. 16. 11. Armillae signi­ficant, nihil in­decorum esse agendum, sed manus (i. e.) opera debere esse decora. Orig. and Jewels, superadded grace, or whether we are more wrinckled in the complexion of our souls, and look more like to the old man. Holy Master Greenham sends us to ci­vil and wordly wisdome, for the practise of this duty; We see, saith he, worldly thriving men, if not every day, yet at least once in the week, they search their books, cast up their ac­counts, confer their expences with their gain, and make even their reckonings, whereby they may see whether they have gain­ed Eph. 4. 22. or lost, whether they are beforehand or come short; and shall Mr. Greenh. [Page 81] not we much more, once a week at least, call our selves to a reck­ning, by examination what hath gone from us, what hath come towards us, how we have gone forward or backward in godli­ness; that if we have holy increases, we may then give thanks to God; and if we have come short, to travel with our selves the more earnestly, to recover our former loss. In a word, the impartial survey of our inward man, will necessarily lead us to a more profitable observation of Gods holy day, seeing those wants will be 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.

4 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?

1 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?

2 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, s [...]gitta haec in corde ejus haeret, et s [...]gittarius, tam fugit, tam se­quitur, & ambo m [...]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 fl [...]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. [Page 82] our Beloved be, upon his own blessed day?

3 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.

1 First, For the Prayer of Faith can prevail with God for the pardon and forgiveness of sin, and pardon'd sin will prepare [...]randus est de­us, ut nihi [...] l [...]n­guoris in nobis, et ruinae pri­stinae relinquat ne rurs [...] 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 eti [...]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.

2 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 audem [...], certum est Christum ea nobis impetrasse, et patrem propter ip­sum nobis d [...]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 [Page 83] 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.

3 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, fi [...]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.

6 The Eve before the Sabbath, we should spend more time then usually in family duties. Our preparation must not only be the work of the Closet, but the work of the Family; Then we should read the Scriptures, refresh one another with holy discourses, be more solemn in our addresses to God; Shall we prepare no more for a Sabbath, that bright spot of time God gives us for our souls, then for another day? [Page 84] Will we approach the Princes presence, with the same dis­regards we will converse with the Peasant? Esther pu­rified Est. 2. 12. and perfumed her self with Oyle of Myrrh, and sweet Odours, before she came into the prefence of Aha­shuerus; and shall our Families have no holy anoynting, no divine quickning, before the day come we must enter the presence of the King of Kings, nay the God of Kings? Shall there be nothing to put a Selah upon a Sabbath Eve? Let us take some time the evening before the Sab­bath to teach our little ones the holiness and Solemnity of a Sabbath, let us tell them how jealous God is of his Sabbaths, what severe punishments he hath overtaken Deut. 6. 7. those with, who have violated his holy day. Let us Numb. 15. 36. bring up our servants in the Holy Trade of Sabbath ob­servation; let us leave it upon their Consciences the night before the Sabbath, how accurately, and carefully God will be served on his own day; and inform them what it cost Aarons Sons for offering strange fire. Governours Lev. 10 3. of Families should take pains with those subordinate to them, in begetting an awe upon their hearts, and so fit them for Sabbath duties. Surely we should more so­lemnly prepare for the day of the Soul, then for the dayes of our Calling; for the services of the Sanctuary, then for the gains of the Shop: God's day gives us a more solemn summons, then mans day doth. And now having thus prepared our selves in the discharge of the forementioned duties, let us retire our selves to our rest, and let the hand of faith draw the curtains about us, and so quietly repose our bodies, till the approaching Psal. 4. 8. morning of Gods holy day, and how that must be passed and solemnly observed, comes next under our most serious discussion.

CHAP. XII. It is most advised and necessary, to rise early [...]n Gods Holy Day.

DIvine providence unclasping our eyes in the morning of the Sabbath, let us lose no time; as we lye on our beds, let us think, now the Lord looks down from Hea­ven, and bids us make haste, get you up, for this day I must Luke 19. 5. abide in your hearts, and this day I must transact with you, about the great importances of your souls. When Abraham was to offer his Son in sacrifice to God, He rose early in the morning, and sadled his Asse, and took two of his servants, and Gen. 22. 5▪ 6. Isaac his Son, with wood cleav'd for a burnt offering, and went to the place of which the Lord had told him: And shall not we on a Sabbath morning be early up our selves, and our fami­lies, to go to the place where the Lord hath appointed, and offer up our bodies and souls in service to God? The Israelites who lay in siege against Jericho upon the se­venth Josh. 6. 15. day, they being to compass the City seven times, the text saith, And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose up early, about the dawning of the day, and they compassed the City after the same manner seven times. Upon the Lords day we are today siege to Heaven, and to compass it many times, and to plant our batteries by holy and invincible prayer, and therefore we should be early up; And there are two things which would much advantage this duty, (viz.) rising early on the morning of the Sabbath.

1 First, A timely going to rest the night before. It is too common a fault among Christians and Professors too, for them to clog themselves the night before the Sabbath with a multitude of worldly busin [...]sses, which causes them to sit up late; hence in the morning when they should be up with God, they lye sleep-bound in their beds.

2 Secondly, An intire love to the work of the day that fol­lows. Alas, we have too little love to the Lords day work, and so but little list to be at the work of the day: Were [Page 86] there love to it, we should long to be at it. Our minds run Pius se paritè [...] velle jugiter deum mente, & animo ge [...]ere, illum colere, illum desiderare tum nocte, tum interdiu. Alap. upon the things we love: We should think of the Sabbath, even in the night time, and we should catch the very first hour of the day, with my soul have I desired thee in the night, and with my spirit within me will I seek thee early, saith the Prophet to God. Were we for several months kept with­out a Sabbath, how would our spirits spring at such a days appearance? Why should the Commonness of the Sun-shi­ning, Isa. 26. 9. and the Sabbaths coming diminish the mercy? How should we every Lords day morning have our minds mount­ing, and say, behold the Sabbath of the Lord, it is come, it is come. Now there are many Alarums to awaken us betimes on the morning of a Sabbath, and to throw off carnal sloth, and fleshly case.

1 Let us eye Christs pattern; he rose early from the Grave, even while it was yet dark, before the Sun had guilded the World with its bright appearance. On the morning of his Joh. 20. 1. Resurrection the Sun of Righteousness prevented the Sun of Mal. 4. 2. Mar. 16. 9. Nature. Can we indulge our sloth on the Sabbath morn­ing, and think of Christs Resurrection? He was up early to save us, and shall not we be so to serve him? shall not we take the wings of the morning, as the Psalmist speaks, and Psal. 139. 9. retaliate this kindness of our Redeemer? That Christ arose from the dead, there was the truth of our redemption; that he arose early, there was the love of our redemption. Christ's longing to arise, and finish our work, should enforce us to rise betimes to set upon his. Job saith, the morning stars sang Job 38. 7. together: Our meeting with Christ on a Sabbath morning, will make the sweetest musick: When carnal sloth surpri­seth us, let us survey the History of Christ; and as he left his tomb, let us leave our down betimes. Let not the Sun of Ortos [...]le (i. e.) ad or [...]um ap­propinquante. Cyr. Righteousness shine in our faces with our curtains drawn a­bout us. May I not here expostulate; Is the Disciple greater then his Master? Betimes he left his lodging, and shall not we? The Master among us doth not usually rise before the Servants. In a word, Love to the Spouse, to the Church, made Christ betimes draw the curtains of his grave; and let love to our Husband, to our Duty, to our Souls, cause us be­times [Page 87] to draw the curtains of our beds, so shall we seasonably Orientem solem adorant Persae. adore this morning Sun.

2 Let us hear the clamours of the soul. The Lords day is the souls market day, the souls fair day, its term time, its Mr. Rogers. busie opportunity, for the securing to its self an everlasting Heb. 9. 15. inheritance, and therefore no time can well be lost. The Client who hath his suit to follow, gets up early to wait at his Councellors door. The Husbandman betimes waits on his business in harvest time. The Sabbath is the souls good wind for heaven, and mariners must not lose their winds, they may so lose their voyage. The Israelites were not to Exod. 16. 25. gather Manna on the Sabbath, for then the showre ceased; but Christians are then chiefly to gather their spiritual Man­na, for then the shower is most plenteous. If one day in Gods Psal. 84 10. Courts be better then a thousand, as the Psalmist speaks, it is so in relation to the soul, and shall then any time of it be lost? Shall we clip that day, when the very clippings are as good silver, as any that is left. The souls interest widens the Sabbath, and would lose no time. The temptation of Satan contracts the Sabbath, and would mind no time. Now whether we should hearken to our better part, or our Manè, (i. e.) tempestivè, sollicitè, vigi­lanter, secundò, mane (i. e.) opportunè. Alap. worser enemy, is most easie to discern. Surely carnal sloth on Gods holy day doth onely evidence the conquest Satan hath gained over us. There are two things he tempts us forcibly to, to lose our Sabbaths, and to lose our souls; and it is no weak, no faint memento to us to rise early on Gods day to seek him, when he professes so often he rises early himself, Jer. 7. 13. Jer. 26. 5. Jer. 25. 4. and sends his Prophets early to seek and enquire after us.

3 Let us cast an eye upon the examples of Gods Saints; they are early in their visits of God. The Church resolves to get Cant. 7. 12. up early and go into the Vineyards, she would betimes ga­ther clusters, spiritual food for her feeding and refreshing. The Church denotes her longing after Christs presence; E [...]ce sanctorum animae, ec ce sanctorum men­tes quae ad ex­cellentissimos fructus glorio­sissimè perveni­unt. Philo. there will be nothing but fruitfulness and flourishing, where Christ draws near. Christ comes not empty to his Spouse, but he brings abundance of grace and sweetness with him. The bubbling and boyling hearts of Gods holy and hidden [Page 88] ones are waiting for the first opportunities to enjoy commu­nion with God; they will file off the chains of sloth and sleep, to be free to converse with their beloved. The holy Psalmist in this duty writes us the fairest copy; sometimes he began his devotions in the night watches; before any ap­pearance Psal. 63. 6. of day had made a rent in the mantle of the night, when others were rockt asleep, and fast in the armes of na­tures nurse (for so sleep is) David was waking and busily imployed in holy meditation and devotion: But if the night had been farther spent, yet he was so early in his ad­dresses, Psal. 88. 13. that he professes that he prevented God himself, he was with him, before the Lord could well expect him; If he delayed his devotions till towards morning, yet then he Psal. 130. 6. grew so impatient, that he longed as much to be with God, as the poor tyred Sentinel waited for day peep, that he might be taken from his harsh and dangerous employment; for thus he speaks, Psal. 130. 6. My soul waiteth for the Lord more then they who watch for the morning, I say more then they who watch for the morning: And it is observable, least we should think he had spoken more his affection then his practice, he repeats the word twice for our greater assu­rance. Nor will his zeal, or divine affection suffer him to let the morning steal upon him, that he should see the light of the sun, before he had pursued the light of Gods Coun­tenance; no, He will prevent the very first dawning of the morning; so he saith, Psal. 119. 147. I prevented the daw­ning Psal. 119 147. of the morning, and cryed, I hoped in thy Word. And in this passage it is most remarkable, timely piety and devo­tion it was not a fit of love, but a holy custome. And lastly, if his natural rest had kept him a prisoner from God longer then usual, yet he resolves he will awake early, Psal. 108. 2. Psal. 108. 2. Psal. 57. 8. Psal. 110. 3. 1 John 1. 3. Nay he will awake right early, Psal. 57. 8. The rest of nature shall not long withstand [...]he force of grace and holy love; but he will break out of the womb of the morning to cry, and wait for God, to enjoy salvifical fellowship with him. Now if David was so early in his inquisitions after God, on any time, or time indefinite, how much more should we on Gods own holy day, that peculiar day which God hath especially Psal. 118. 24. [Page 89] made for close converses between himself and the precious soul. Now if you ask me what employments or affairs en­gaged Davids early awakings, that he could not fetch his sound sleeps as well as other men. I answer, I find four things that took up Davids earliest thoughts:

1 First, Prayer: so Psal. 5. 3. and so Psal. 88. 13. And in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee. This holy man must break the silence of the night by the approaches of his soul, before God break the darkness of the night, by the ap­proaches of the sun. He remembred that those who sought Prov. 8. 17. God early should find him, Prov. 8. 17. A rich promise can draw out Davids heart in holy prayer.

2 Secondly, Meditation, Psal. 63. 6. David could let out his earliest thoughts upon God, as the most pleasing subject they could prey upon. Indeed most sutably our thoughts should Rev. 1. 8. begin with him, who is the beginning of all things, who is both the fountain to bubble forth, and the pillar to support Porro α. & ω. proverbialitèr dicitur de eo, qui primus est in re quapiam, seu qui in ali­quo genere est summus. Pau. our beings. In the spiritual nature of God, is the reason of our spiritual worship, his wisdome is the reason of our sub­mission, his holiness is the reason of our conformity, his ju­stice is the reason of our fear, his goodness is the reason of our love, his truth is the reason of our trust, his grace is the reason of our prayers, and his glory is the reason of our praises. Now here is the flowy field for the soul to medi­tate in, in the freshest morning.

3 Thirdly, Holy thanksgivings, Psal. 92. 2. the words are these; To shew forth thy loving kindness in the morning, and Psal. 59. 16. this Psalm is the song for the Sabbath, as the title informs us; indeed every morning, but much more on the morning of Gods holy day, there should be a dew of holy thanksgiving upon the heart of every believer.

4 Fourthly, Acting of graces; so the Psalmist, Psal. 119. 147. I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cryed, I ho­ped in thy word. Morning g [...]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 [Page 90] 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 r [...]m Rex unum habebat cubi u [...]arem, qui idoffi ii habebu, ut manè ingressus, regi diceret; Surge ô Rex, et (que) 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.

4 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.

1 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, quàm cum solus. and upon Gods holy day, let the gracious soul set upon these several duties;

1 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. [Page 91] 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.

2 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.

3 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. [...]. onely for privacy; Company untravelling whatsoever medi­tation works (but of this more largely hereafter.)

4 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 [Page 92] 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.

2 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, but in our houses there must be a meeting of Re­lations; there must be Parents and Children, Masters and Servants, those who are born at home, and the stranger Exod. 20 10. Comm [...]ni s [...]nctifi [...]ndi S [...]b­bathi lege [...]on­stringuntur om­nes ex aequo; herus, serv [...], peter, liberi, mas & f [...]mi­na, s [...]per [...]res, et infer [...]ores. Musc. within our gates, and all these must joyntly keep Gods Sab­bath in holy duties; and no less God commands in the fourth Commandment, the Son and Daughter must remem­ber to keep the Sabbath holy, as well as the Parents, the Man-servant and the Maid-servant, as well as the Gover­nours of the Family, nay, the stranger within the Gates. On the Lords day, we must by a conscionable, and constant performance of holy duties, turn even our private house in­to [Page 93] a little Church; and thus we shall intail Gods presence to our houses, as he vouchsafed his blessing on the house of Obed Ed [...]m; we must not onely act secret duties on the Sab­bath, 2 Sam. 6. 12. but likewise Family duties. What those duties are, shall be more copiously handled hereafter.)

3 But Thirdly, we must act publick duties on Gods holy Sabbath: we must not onely open the doors of our closets, and of our chambers, to come down into our houses, but Ex hac com­ [...]i [...]e tum Regnum [...]. Zanch. we must open the doors of our houses too, to meet with Gods people to celebrate the Lords day. The Sabbath is the day wherein the Saints visit God, and one another; they then begin that society, which shall be perfected and eternized in Glory. David rejoyced when he went with the multitude to the House of God. The great Apostle taught every where, in Psal. 42. 4. every Church, [...]: He taught when the people 1 Cor. 4 17. were called together. The Corinthians came together in one place to eat the Lords Supper. Nay, Christ himself will de­clare 1 Cor. 11. 20. the name and praises of God to his Brethren in the midst Luke 8 19. of the Church. We must therefore serve God on the Sab­bath in the Assemblies of Gods people; not in our houses onely, but in the Church, (i. e.) in the Congregation of the faithfull. Moses speaks of a holy Convocation, Exod. 12. 16. Exod. 12. 16. and the Psalmist makes mention of the Assembly of the Saints, Psal. 89. 7. nay, the promise is intailed▪ on the Congregation of Gods peo­ple, Isa. 4. 5. The omission of this our assembling of our Isa. 4. 5. selves, is by the Apostle sharply rebuked, Heb. 10. 25. One commenting on this Text, hath divers things remark­able, Heb. 10. 25. and worthy of our observation; As

1 First, By this assembling, the Apostle intends no other but the meeting of Believers to hear the Word of God, and Per collectio­nem hanc A­post caetus ec­clesiae, et conventus fidelium, ad sacram synaxin; ad verb [...]m dei, p [...]e [...]es (que) publicas intelligit. Secundò, Hos caetus vult Apost ut Ch [...]istiani fidem profi [...]ntur, gratiarum actiones perso [...]ent, et se invi [...]em excitent ad veritatem et bona opera. Ter [...] illi catus, et mutui congressus mirè sovent fi­dem, quae in secess [...] et separatione diuturniori l [...]ngue scit. Quartò, Qui ecclesiae [...]ae [...]s negligunt, et deserum, facilè urgente perse [...]utione, ecclesiam ipsam, et fidem Christi deserunt, et abnegant. Alap. to pour out their prayers before God.

2 Secondly, The Apostle injoynes the Assemblies, that Chri­stians might meet publickly to profess their faith in Christ, and to sing the praises of God, to stir up one another to love and good works.

3 Thirdly, The same Author observes, that these Compa­nies and Assemblies do exceedingly foment and cherish faith, which by a perpetual recluse and separation, quickly would languish and be infeebled. Nay,

4 Fourthly, He observes, That those who forsake the As­semblies of Gods people, will easily in the urgency and heat of persecution desert the Church of Christ; thus far that learned man. And what a rare promise doth the Apostle mention, 2 Cor. 6. 16. the words are these; For ye are the 2 Cor. 6. 16. Temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall Lev. 26. 12. be my people. Christ when he was upon the Earth, he goes into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day, Mar. 1. 21. and Mark 1. 21. taught the people. Paul and his Company go into the Sy­nagogue on the Sabbath, and Paul preacheth there: Nay, Acts 20. 7. afterwards Paul preacheth to the Christian Assembly in a house on the Lords day, Acts 20. 7. In a word, where doth Christ walk but in the midst of his candlesticks, which are the Churches? Rev. 1. 20. Cornelius Alapide observes, that Rev. 1. 20. Alapide. holy Ignatius, who was the Disciple, and follower of the A­postle Paul, adviseth in his Epistles those of Smyrna and Ephesus, to frequent the meetings of the Saints, and gives this reason, because they will wonderfully confirm us in the faith: so then the whole duty of a Believer on the Lords day, lies not in the Closet, or the Family, but likewise in the Societies of Gods people met for divine worship. Coals put together make the warmer fire. When the Christians were Assem­bled Acts 10. 44. to hear Peter, then the Holy Ghost fell upon them. The Saints in Glory are the Assembly and Church of the first-born, Heb. 12. 23. and therefore we must act publick duties on Heb. 12. 23. Gods holy day in the publick Assemblies: (But now what these publick duties are, and how we must demean our selves in the performance of them, shall be more largely dis­cussed hereafter.)

2 We had need rise early on the Sabbath; for as we have many Duties to perform, so we have many Graces to act. The Sabbath is both the field to exercise Grace in, and the trea­sury 2 Tim. 2. 1. to supply grace with. Ordinances are both the breath­ing, Gr [...]i [...] non so­li [...] [...]est s [...]v [...]r [...]i, [...] q [...]od ex eo s [...] ­q [...]t [...]r. Alap. and the breasts of grace. In prayer we act, and we aug­ment our graces; and so in other Ordinances. The Sab­bath is the Believers resting day, but Graces working day; it is love which sweetens the work of a Sabbath; Faith makes eff [...]ctual the Ordinances of a Sabbath; Repentance reconciles H [...]b. 11. 6. Jer 31. 19, 20. Rom. 12. 11. Isa. 57. 15. H [...]b 4. 2. Jam. 5. 16. the God of the Sabbath; Zeal makes acceptable the duties of a Sabbath; Humility ingages Gods presence on a Sabbath. We cannot hear the Word profitably on this holy day, with­out we mingle it with Faith, nor address our selves to God in prayer, without we inflame the duty with fire, with the fire of zeal. In our prayers, we must get our affections fired by the Holy Ghost, that they may flame up towards God in Devout and Religious ascents. Broken-hearted, and peni­tent Isa. 23. 16. believers must meet with Christ at a Sacrament; A contrite heart is the fittest company for a Crucified Saviour. Eph. 5. 19. In singing of Psalms, there must be holy joy, we must make August. in lib. confes. Deplo­rat, & dolet, q [...]d concenti­bus musi [...]is plus attentionis, ad­hibuit, quàm quae sub ill [...]s prof [...]reb [...]ntur. Zanch. melody in our hearts; Holy affection must make the read­ing of the Word savoury and saving to us; The Sabbath then, without we act our Graces on God, on Christ, on the Word, and in the Ordinances, is onely a day of theatrical shews, and spiritual pegeantries, which when it is over, leaves the soul empty of any purchase or satisfaction: And if so many graces must be drawn out into act, we had need take the wings of the morning, and speed to our Sabbath employ­ments, which are so numerous and important.

3 There are many faculties and parts to employ on the Sab­bath; All that is within us, and all that is without us, must serve and praise the Lord; every part of our bodies, and Psal. 109. 30. every faculty of our souls, the whole man is but a reason­able Rom. 12. 1. sacrifice to be offered this holy festival.

1 First, Our outward man; the tongue must be employed in prayer, the ear in attention, the heart in devotion, the eye in speculation, the knee in submission. And

2 Secondly, Our inward man, the understanding must be improved to drink in truth, the will to entertain truth, the Recta ratio di­ctat, deum ma­g [...] interna fide, spe, pietate, amore, et pu­ritate mentis, quàm externis corporis ceremoniis colendum esse. Alap. memory to retain and record truth, and our affections have a three-fold office:

1 First, To espouse the Word, by receiving it in the love thereof, 2 Thes. 2. 10. A careful attention opens the door to 2 Thes. 2. 10. the word, but a lively affection opens the heart to the word. The preaching of the Gospel layes a treble injunction upon us;

• 1. To receive it.
• 2. To love it.
• 3. To live in it: But the

2 Second office of our affections is to heat our prayers; it is love makes that sacrifice to smoak and flame. And James 5. 16.

3 Thirdly, To scale Heaven in longing for a better Sab­bath, more durable, more sweet, more full and superla­tive. Psal. 63. 1.

4 There are many persons to converse withall on the Lords day:

1 First, We must converse with God. The Sabbath is cal­led the Lords day, not onely as it is the commemoration of Rev. 1. 10. his glorious resurrection, and his appointment and institu­tion, but likewise because our business is with him on that day; then more especially our fellowship is with the Fa­ther, and with his Son Jesus Christ. Our praying on a Sab­bath, 1 Joh. 1. 3. is the pouring out of our souls into Gods bosome, our In Patrea, et in Christo, sunt omnia verae ec­clesiae bona. Zanch. hearing is onely receiving, and being acquainted with Gods mind; in Ordinances we wait upon God; in the Sacrament we feed upon Christ; in our Services we do homage to God; in our Praises we pay tribute to God. The Sabbath is the souls meeting day with God, its spiritual Mart, in which it traficks, and drives its trade with Heaven. Take away God from a Sabbath, and the Ordinances are dry and parcht; duties are heartless and unprofitable, the Sanctuary is fil­led with emptiness, the people and professors hunt after a Isa. 55. 2. [Page 97] shadow, and at last shall catch that which is not bread. All our addresses on this holy day are to God, our delights are in God, our expectations are from God, our fellowship and sweet communion is with God; and therefore holy David Psal. 63. 2. speaks of Gods Power and Glory in the Sanctu [...]ry, and makes its only request to behold the beauty of the Lord in the Tem­ple, Psal. 27. 4. and magnifies a dayes opportunity in Gods house. The Psal. 84. 10. Spouse enquires where Christ feedeth, and where he makes his Can. 1. 7. flock to rest at noon. Our great and principal business is with God on the Sabbath.

2 Secondly, We must converse with the Ministers of God; they are on this day the stars to guide us, Rev. 1. 10. they Rev. 1. 10. are the Stewards to provide for us, and give us our meat in due season, Luk. 12. 42. 1 Cor. 4. 1. 1 Pet. 4. 10. they Luke 12. 42. are the salt to season us, Mat. 5. 13. they are the wise Duo docet Apo­stolus, unum communionem, cum Apostolis, ideòq eorum Doctrinam eô spectare, ut om­nes unum fia­mus cum Christo, & ejus Patre. Zanch. 1 Cor. 3. 10. Mal. 2. 7. builders to edifie us in the increases of God; their lips pre­serve knowledge; their feet appear beautifull in bringing the glad-tidings of Peace; their voice is sweet to the hungry soul. On the Sabbath we must wait on the Ministry of Gods faithfull Ambassadors.

3 Thirdly, We must converse with the Saints of God on his holy day; then Gods people must gather together, and pur­sue Rom. 10. 15. a joynt interest. Publick Assemblies adorn the Sabbath. Cant. 2. 14. Grapes are best in clusters. There are many strings to the 2 Cor. 5. 20. Lute, which is the sweetest Instrument. Flocks are most pleasant when gathered together in one company; and Ar­mies most puissant, when kept in a body, their dissipation is both their rout and ruine. Christs sheep must flock together Suggerit Apost. constantiae ad­m [...]nicula: Pri­mò, Ʋtament, et diligenter frequentent caetus Ecclesiasticos. Secundò, Ʋt se mutuò ad veritatem tuendam cohortationibus excitent; maxime qui firmiores sunt infirmiores juvent, confirment, et hortentur ad constantiam in fide. Deus enim publicis presentiam suam et eruditionem promisit. In Ecclesiae congressi [...]us doctrina fidei reperitur, et declaratur ad singulorum aedificationem et preces pro constantid publicè funduntur ad deum, quas juxta promissionem exaudit. Par. on Christs holy day: Paraeus gives us four solid Reasons for it, which I shall mention for their substantial worth.

First, The Congregating of Gods people (especially on the Lords day) is the soder of unity; like many stones so artifici­ally laid, that they appear all but one stone. Every Congrega­tion is a little body, whereof Christ is the head: Ʋnity is the strength and beauty of the Saints; nothing so preserves it, as frequent and holy Assemblings.

Secondly, It is the preservative of love. Many sticks put to­gether kindle a flame, and make a [...]laze. Frequent visits multi­ply friendships. In Heaven, where all the glorified Saints meet together, how ardent is their love! Absence, and seldome asso­ciations beget strangeness, as between God and us, so between one another. To meet to worship the same God, is the best way to attain to the same heart; like the Primitive Saints, who were all of one company, and all of one mind, Acts 2. 46. Acts 2. 46.

Thirdly, God hath made his promises to the Assemblies of his Saints, Mat. 18. 20. 2 Cor. 6. 16. He will not neglect a Mat. 18. 20. weeping Hannah, who prays and sobs alone, 1 Sam. 1. 13. but will give her not onely a Child, but a Samuel: But yet God will create upon the Assemblies of his people a cloud, which was the sign of his presence, Isa. 4. 5. And Isa. 4. 5.

Fourthly, The prayers of the faithfull Congregation receive Deus quasi co­lumna ignis praefulget, et ostendit suis vi­am salutis; et quasi nubes ca­lig [...]rosà obum­brat, refrigerat, et proteg [...]t eos ab aellutenta­tionis. Basil. Jon 2 7, 8, 9, 10 strength from their union. When all Niniveh intreated the Lord, and put on sack-cloath, God repents himself of that intended and threatned evil, and puts his Sword into the scabbard, though drawn by an open denuntiation of Judgement, Jon. 2. 7, 8, 9, 10. Prayer is the souls battery of Heaven; and when these petitions are the common breathings of the whole Assem­bly, the force must needs be the stronger, and the answer must needs be the surer. Though a file of Souldiers cannot take the City, an Army may. But

4 Fourthly, We must converse with our Families upon Gods holy day; then Parents should draw out their softest bowells towards their Childrens souls, and Masters discharge their most faithfull duty towards their Servants eternity: But of this more hereafter.

5 We must rise early on a Sabbath, for we have many good things to pursue, and usually the richest lading requires the longest voyages; where we look for great gain, we must spend [Page 99] much time. Now this holy day is Gods market day for the weeks provision, wherein he will have us to come to him, and buy of him without silver or money, the Bread of An­gels, Rev. 22. 1. Isa. 25. 6. 2 Pet. 2. 2. Rev. 3. 18. the Water of Life, the Wine of the Sacraments, and the Milk of the Word to feed our souls, tryed Gold to in­rich our Faith, precious Eye-salve to heal our spiritual blind­ness, and the white rayment of Christs Righteousness to co­ver our shamefull nakedness. And now all things being laid together, that hath been suggested, how should both interest and duty awaken us right early on the Lords day, for these holy pursutes, that no time be drowned and lost in unnecessary sleep and sluggishness.

5 A fifth Argument to raise us betimes on a Sabbath, is se­riously to consider the heats of worldly men. With what wakeful diligence do they prosecute the meat that perisheth; John 6. 27. they rise up early, and go to bed late, and eat the bread of carefulness, and all to grasp the shadow of a few flying and Psal. 127. 2. dying enjoyments, when, as one saith, we should be careful to rise sooner on this day then on other dayes, by how much the service of God is to be preferred before earthly business: There is no Master so good as the Lord is, and in the end no work shall be better rewarded then his service. Dr. Twisse Dr. Twisse Moral. of the Sabbath. 147. Reports, that at Geneva they have a Sermon at four of the clock in the morning on the Lords day for the Servants; and Bishop Lake wished, That such a course was general, as was in his Majesties Court in his time, to have a Sermon in the morning for the Servants on the Sabbath day. How did this holy man breath after holy Services on the morning of a Sab­bath? And let every one of us say, seek the Lord, O my Soul, seek him early on his holy day: Let us do as Mary Mat. 28. 1. Mark 16. 2. John 20. 1. Magdalen, she was early up to seek him whom her soul lov­ed, she was last at the Cross, and first at the Sepulcher, in the dawning, while it was yet dark very early in the morn­ing, say the Evangelists: O that our love to Christ could keep pace with hers. Shall we love the World better then Christ? O that we were as wise for our souls, as we are for our bodies! Let not sleep, that devourer of time, beguile us of our golden hours in the morning of a Sabbath, when [Page 100] we might have the softest and sweetest converse [...] with God. Let the sinfull sluggard, who sleeps with the Sun beams in his face this day, remember the saying of Augustine, If the August. Sun could speak, how roundly might it salute thee with this reproof, I laboured more then thou didst yesterday, and yet I am risen before thee to day: But this is too low an Argu­ment, behold the Sun of Righteousness is risen, let us not sleep as do others, but say and sing with the Church, Isa. Isa. 26. 9. Sanctus ad bea­tos aspirans, di­cit, se velle ju­giter deum, mente, et animo gerere, ill [...]m desiderare, tam nocte, tam in­terdiu. Psal. 139. 9. 26. 9. With my soul have I desired thee in the night, yea, and with my spirit within me will I seek thee early. In a word, it must needs inforce us to a blush, to think that the Labourer who toyles in his earthly employments, should take the wings of the morning to muddle in the World, and we should let the morning fly away by our sloath and carelesness, and not overtake it to meet with God upon his owne holy day.

6 And sixthly, let it be considered, the gracious soul will long to be with God. The Spouse sought Christ upon her bed, and the Saint will leave his bed betimes on a Sabbath to Cant. 3. 1. seek Jesus Christ; the Spouse would pursue her beloved in Sponsa interim evigilans, spe­ciebus illis non satis discussis, motu brachiis expansis, spon sum complaecti conata fuit. Del rio. the night, and the Saint will not omit to follow hard after the Lord Jesus in the morning, as soon as she is awake she is with God, especially on his own day, Psal. 139. 18. Our heart is where our treasure is, as our Saviour speaks, Luk. 12. 34. And if Christ be our treasure, our spiritual love will prevail against our carnal sloath. Let us take notice of holy David, with what extasie of love he was transplant­ed, Psal. 63. 1. O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee, my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee, in a dry Psal. 139. 18. Luk. 12. 34. and thirsty land where no water is. Where there are thirsts after God, there will be early enquiries for him. The gra­cious Psal. 63. 1. Soul pants after God, as the Hart pants after the wa­ter brooks: Now the thirsty Hart will not be so taken with Psal. 42. 1, 2. the green and pleasant Grass where she is lodged, so as to forbear the brooks which must quench her thirst; nor will the Saint be so toyled and fettered with sleep, or sloath, so as Psal. 122. 1. to suspend his communion with God on his holy Sabbath, he will tear those drowsie withs, his 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, M [...]nè animus est apt [...]or ad audiendum et cogitandum ra­tionalta, ea (que) 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 int [...]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 [Page 102] 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.

8 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 Convi [...]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.

9 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 [Page 103] their sleep, that more timely they may have their Masses, Superstitio, et omnu Idolo­latria, est pro­fus [...], qui eâ in [...]aleseunt, nulla p [...]rcunt sumptibus, ve­ros dei cultores pudeat tam [...]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: 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. [Page 104] 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.

1 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. [...]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.

2 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. [Page 105] behold this star, but on the morning of his holy day? The Christus est stella matu­tina non mod [...] praesentis, vitae noctem rad [...]s suis nun [...] dis [...] ­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, an [...] 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.

3 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, [Page 106] 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 wis [...]man observes, it is a prin­ciple agreeable to Nature, to [...]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. [...]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 and season for spiritual communications between Christ and the Spouse. But now the main Query will be, what are those duties which are incumbent upon us on the morning of a Sabbath? To Reply therefore to this Query, I shall in­stance first in Meditation; Meditation is the souls flight to­wards Heaven, and therefore it had need take the wings of Psal. 139. 9. the morning. When thou hast broken thy sleep, begin the Sabbath with holy Meditation, that is the morning sacri­fices of the mind.

CHAP. XIV. The Benefits and Excellency of Holy Meditation.

MEditation is a most notable piece of Gods service, the very life and strength of all other Duties, and with­out which, all duties are infeebled, full of weakness and in­firmity. Meditatio est nutrix oratio­nis. Ger. Meditation is the Nurse which feeds our prayers, it is the Nail which fastens the Word, it is one hand that puts on the wedding Garment to fit us for the supper of the Lord. Meditation it is the spiritual silk-worm which works [...], haec cura, haec satage, his juge studium, et cor­poris, et animae vires impende, et intende. rare and curious silk, rich goods out of its own bowels. [Page 107] It is the travel of the understanding, the souls Hue and Cry after Divine things; it is the fixing of the heart upon God, or some thing of God; it is the stop and pause of the mind from the impertinent wandrings and rovings of it: In a word, Meditation is the randezvous, and trooping together of the thoughts in some spiritual matter, as Sun-beams are Psal. 119. 15. gathered together in a burning glass. If we meditate upon the Word, or any truth therein, then our thoughts flock to­gether, 1 Tim. 4. 15. and center in the divine truth, in this spiritual ob­ject. Now for the canvasing of this Excellent Duty, I shall briefly open what may conduce to the fullest discovery of it:

1 First, Let us view Meditation in the nature of it, and it may be thus described. It is the souls retiring of it self, that Quatuor tibi meditanda reor, quae sub te, quae circate, quae supra te, et te­ipsum, a te me­ditatio, inchoet, ne frustrà ex­tendaris in a­lia, te negle­cto. Quid tibi prodest, si uni­versum mun­dum luereris, si teipsum perdas? Et si sapiens sis, &c. Bernard. Consid. ad Eugenium. Mr. Greenham in his tract of meditation. by a serious and solemn thinking upon God, or some thing di­vine, the heart may be raised up to heavenly affections: Some refer this holy duty chiefly to the understanding, but others draw it nearer to the memory; as one describes Meditation thus; That it is the exercise of the mind, whereby we calling our selves to remembrance, that which we know, we do further debate of it, with our own souls, reasoning about it, and applying it to our selves, that we may make use of it in our practice, and so it frameth our affections accordingly. Holy Greenham observes, in Meditation two parts of the soul are busied:

First, The Memory, remembring some thing heard or read;

Secondly, The understanding, gathering some thing upon that which is remembred. Now

First, Meditation is a retired duty. A Christian when he Meditation a retired duty. goes to meditate, he must seclude himself from the World; the affairs of this life make so much noyse, that they drowne the sweet, though secret musick of meditation. Holy Isaac Mat. 14. 23. retires into the field to meditate: there must be a necessary se­questration Gen. 24. 63. of our selves from every impertinent and intru­ding [Page 108] object, if we will pursue this holy service of Medita­tion; this duty is chamber, nay, closet practice: The sweet Manna the soul feeds upon, when there is no spectator of its banquet. When Zacheus would see Christ, he climbs Luke 19. 3, 4. up into the Sycamore tree to see him; so when we would see God, we must get out of the croud of worldly business, Si sapiens sis, deest tibi ad sa­pientiam, si tibi non fueris, Quantum verò; Noveris licet omnia mysteria, noveris lata terrae, alta coeli et profunda ma­ris, si temetip­sum non nove­ris, eris similis aedificanti, sine fundamento, ruinam, non structuram fa­ciens. Bern. we must climb up into the tree by retiredness of Meditation. St. Bernard when he came to the Church door, he used to say, Stay here all my worldly thoughts, that I may converse with God in the Temple; so say to thy self, I am now going to meditate, O all ye vain thoughts stay behind, come not near. When thou ascendest the mount of meditation, take heed that the world do not follow thee at thy heels. In­deed meditation is an inward and secret duty, the soul retires its self into the closet, and bids farewell to all impertinent extravagancies which may discompose its privacy, and takes a view of those things which are within its self. Medita­tion is an invisible duty to the eye of the world, and there­fore carnal men do relish it.

2 Meditation is a Serious Duty, and it is one of the noblest works a Christian can perform; Reason then is in its exal­tation. When the soul doth meditate, it puts forth the Meditation is a serious duty. most judicious and rational acts; then is the soul most like to God, who spends eternity in contemplating his own es­sence, Psal. 77. 12. and glorious attributes. When the Christian medi­tates he practices an imitation of Divine Majesty. 1 Tim. 4. 15.

3 Meditation is a sublime Duty. It is an exercise of the un­derstanding, it is not a duty in which we converse with Qualis illic coe­lestium regno­rum voluptas sine timore mo­riendi cum ae­ternitate vi­vendi. Cypr. drossie things; meditation properly sets upon spiritual things, upon spiritual objects, spiritual truths, spiritual doctrines: David meditates on Gods Law. Meditation pitches upon the joyes of Heaven, the great account man must give, the de­filing nature of sin, the extremities of hell, and on objects of the like nature. Psal. 119. 97. Meditation a sublime duty.

4 Meditation is a fixed duty. It is not a cursory work. Mans thoughts naturally labour with a great inconsistency; but meditation chains them, and fastens them upon some spiritual object. The Soul when it meditates layes a com­mand Meditation a fixed duty. Josh. 1. 8. [Page 109] mand on it self, that the thoughts which are otherwise flit­ting and feathery, should fix upon its object; and so this duty is very advantagious. As we know a Garden which is watered with suddain showers is more uncertain in its fruit, then when it is refreshed with a constant stream; so when our thoughts are some times on good things, and then run off, when they onely take a glance of a holy object, and then flit away, there is not so much fruit brought into the soul. In meditation then, there must be a fixing of the heart upon the object, a steeping the thoughts, as holy David, Psal. 108. 1. O Lord, my heart is fixed. We must view the Psal. 108. 1. holy object presented by meditation, as a Limner, who views some curious piece, and carefully heeds every shade, every line and colour; as the Virgin Mary kept all these Luke 2. 19. things, and pondered them in her heart. Indeed meditation [...], dicite de aliquo secum disser­tante. Grot. in locum. is not onely the busying the thoughts, but the centering of them, not onely the employing of them, but the staking them down upon some spiritual affair. When the soul, meditating on some thing divine, saith as the Disciples in the transfi­guration, Mat. 17. 4. It is good to be here. Mat. 17. 4.

2 Having thus defined, I now come to distinguish meditation from some things which looks very like it: There are some duties which have a great resemblance, and yet differ from meditation; those duties and meditation they are like si­milar complexions, there is need of a familiarity to distin­guish between them.

1 Solemn Meditation (the duty we treat of) differs from occasional; as if one heard the clock strike, he presently may think with himself, what thought have I had of God this hour, I am one hour nearer the Grave, and it lies in Gods bosome whether I shall live another hour; such occa­sional meditations, are things onely in transitu, in a short Psal. 31. 15. and sweet passage; and as one observes, the subject of occa­sional meditation ariseth very frequently from things arti­ficial, civil or natural, indeed any thing we see or hear: But the objects of solemn meditation, are only things spiritual and divine. Occasional meditation is when the soul spiri­tualizes any object, when the understanding is like an Alym­beck [Page 110] which distills some thing from every thing; this is that spiritual Chymistry which turns any metal it meets with in­to Gold. Our blessed Saviour was an admirable example of this, He drew spiritual matter from natural objects; from the peoples desirousness of the Loaves, he sends them to seek the meat which endureth to everlasting life; and so the Gos­pel John 6. 27. is full of Parables, and indeed a Christian should see some thing of God in all things, and all things most eminently in God; every stream should lead us to the fountane; all things below should be the pedestal to raise the soul higher: A good Christian, I say, may from every emergence and occurrence, extract matter of meditation. To instance in a few particulars, when we look up to the Heavens, and see [...]. them resplendent with light, we may raise this meditation; if the foot-stool be so glorious, what is the Throne, where God himself sits? Monica, Augustines Mother, standing one day, and seeing the Sun shine, raised this meditation, Oh, if the Sun be so bright, what is the Light of Gods presence? When you hear musick that delights the senses, presently raise this meditation, what is the musick of a good Con­science? Ignat. Epist. ad Philad. Nay, rather what is the musick of the Bride Cham­ber? When you are dressing your selves in the morning, awaken your meditation, and think thus; Have I been dres­sing 1 Pet. 3 5. the hidden man of the heart? 1 Pet. 3. 5. Have I looked 2 Cor. 5. 1. my face in the glass of Gods Word? I have put on my cloaths, but have I put on my Christ? When you sit down Luke 14. 15. to dinner, let your meditation feed upon this first course, how blessed are they that shall eat bread in the Kingdome of 2 Cor. 5. 1. Quid est vita, nisi meditatio mortis, God? What a Love-feast shall there be in Glory, when none but friends, and the Bride-grooms guests shall be admitted? When you go to bed at night, meditate of the putting off the Tabernacle of Clay, the earthly cloaths of your body, and 2 Cor. 5. 10. lying down in the bed of the Grave. When you see the Dic dormituro, non expergisces amplius? Dic experrecto, non potes dormire amplius. [...]en. Judge go to the Assizes, meditate on the last Judgement, when we shall all stand before the Tribunal of Jesus Christ, 2 Cor. 5. 10. Indeed every thing might feed the meditations of a Saint, who is the curious Alchymist, who can spiri­tualize every presented object: But all these are occasional John 4. 7, 10, 13, 14. [Page 111] meditations, and differ from that meditation which is solemn and deliberate; (which is the subject discourse of this pre­sent Chapter.)

2 But secondly, Meditation differs from study: Indeed the Students life looks like meditation, but it varies from it:

1 First, Meditation and study differ in the subject; wicked men study, and it may be more then Godly men, but wicked men study onely, Godly men meditate; It is one character of 1 Psal. 2. a Godly man, to meditate on Gods Law day and night.

2 Secondly, They differ in their nature. One well observes, Study is a work of the brain, Meditation of the heart. Study sets the invention on work, but meditation sets the desires and affections on work.

3 Thirdly, They differ in their Objects. Study is of all manner of things, whether Natural, Civil or Mathematical; Study pursues Aristotle as well as Moses: but Meditation is onely of matters which concern our everlasting well­fare.

The matters we most study, are those truths which are Quae sunt ne­cessaria ad sa­lutem, pleno in­tuitu felicitur inturemur. most knotty and difficult, and afford least spiritual nourish­ment, as Criticismes, Chronologies, Controversies, &c. But if matters of Meditation, they are plain and of great spiritual advantage.

4 Fourthly, Meditation and Study differ in their design. The design of study is Notion, the design of meditation is Piety; the design of study is the finding out of truth, but the design of meditation, is the holy improvement of truth; the one searcheth for the vein of Gold, and the other diggs it out. The end of study is knowledge, the end of meditation is holiness. Study is like a winters Sun, warms but little, and hath an inconsiderable influence, but meditation leaves one in a more holy frame; it melts the heart when it is fro­zen, Psal. 119. 48, 78 and maketh it drop into tears and love: In a word, if we see a learned man, we presently conclude he hath stu­died Psal. 119. 148. much; If we see a devout and holy man, we may con­clude, that man hath meditated much.

3 Meditation differs from memory. Some have called me­mory the scribe of the soul, it sets down, and pens those [Page 112] things which are done; what we hear or read, the me­mory doth register; and therefore memory seems to bear some resemblance with Meditation; but they differ,

1 In that the remembrance of a truth, without meditation on it, will but create matter of sorrow and trouble; A Sermon remembred, but not ruminated on, will serve onely Maxima est humanae me­moriae labili tas, versamur [...]îc in terrâ oblivionis, inde saepius nobis accidit, ut quae omnium optime addicisse vide­mur, quando ad rem ventum est, ignoremus. Ger. Gen. 19. 3. to aggravate our condemnation. Memory is onely the regi­string of a truth, but meditation is the learning of it by heart; memory opens the door to entertain spiritual knowledge, but meditation it locks the door upon that discovery; It will not let it fly out again: Meditation, like Lot, is importu­nate, that holy truths, like welcomed Angels, lodge with us.

2 The meditation of any thing hath more sweetness in it, then bare remembrance. The memory is the chest to lay up a truth, but meditation is the palate to feed upon it. The memory is like the Ark in which the Manna was laid up; Meditation is like Israels eating of the Manna. When David began to Psal. 63. 5, 6. meditate upon God, it was sweet to him as marrow. There is as much difference between a truth remembred, and a truth meditated on, as between a cordial in the glass, and a cordial drank down.

3 The next thing considerable in this excellent duty of me­ditation, is the timing of it; how much, how often, how long we must meditate. Indeed the Scripture doth not po­sitively Requiritur ani­mus memor, & vigilans, qui dies, & noctes de praeceptis servandis cogi­tet. Ger. determine any set time for this holy service. Our chief Pilots and Guides is this main importance, must be spiritual prudence, and divine affection; Our wisdome must select, and our love must limit the time for sweet meditation. Indeed some of Gods holy people have taken long Journies in this holy duty. David tells us, that he spent the whole day in it, Psal. 119. 97. Nay, he mentions a Godly man, Psal. 119. 97. who when the day was shut in, would not call off his soul from this blessed service, as being tired and wearied, but would travel all night in the same complacential perfor­mance. But leaving these extraordinary examples, we may Psal. 1. [...]. [Page 113] certainly and truly conclude, that we must consecrate some part of our time every day to this duty of meditation. Da­vid though he had the business of a Kingdome, and the plea­sures of a Court to divert him, yet saith of the Law, it was his meditation all the day; and in this, evidences the excellent Psal. 119 97. disposition of his soul. Truly frequency in this duty, is not onely praise-worthy, but will bring in a harvest of spiritual gain.

1 By frequency we shall make our thoughts more plyable for the discharge of this secret and difficult duty, the soul will be made more apposite and accommodate for it. Frequent and customary running maketh a person long breathed, and more able for exercise: when we use this duty of Meditati­on every day, our thoughts will be more consistent, they Hos. 6. 3. will be more improved and ripened for meditation. And on the contrary, when we neglect the frequent use of it, we shall find meditation, first more unpleasant, and then more unnecessary, and at last more distastfull and burthensome. Disuse quickly brings holy duties into disgust.

2 The interruption in, and infrequency of this duty, will hinder the fruits of it; when there are long strides between the performances of this duty, we lose the benefit of former meditations. As in the body, when a man makes a free and liberal meal, this will not maintane and support him long, Panem petimus quotidianum, quo quotidiè in­digemus, qui (que) quotidiè nobis frugalitèr alen­dis sufficiat. Par. but the next day a new and fresh hunger importunes another meal, and if denyed, the body faints and languisheth: So meditation, like food, it must be our daily repast, else the re­freshing of former meditations wear out, and leave no fruit or benefit behind. When the Hen leaves her Eggs for a long time, and doth not sit upon them, they are unfit for production, and never are reared to be Chickens; but when she daily broods upon them, they are living, and lively productions: So when we leave our wonted course of medi­tation for some space of time, our affections grow chill and cold, and are not fit to produce comfort and holiness to our souls; when we are constant in this work, we shall find the benefit and advantage of it.

Quest. But if it be demanded, how long we must continue in this du­ty of meditation?

Answ. It may be answered, so long, till meditation bring forth some considerable benefit, till it stir up our affections, warm Domine, nun­q [...]om à te abs (que) te rece­dam. Bern. our hearts, and tune our inward man, till we find some sensible change, and transformation in our souls. Indeed na­ture disrelisheth this duty, and we are very apt to be soon weary of it: Our thoughts are like a bird in a Cage, which flutters the more when confined; and meditation fastens and confines them to some spiritual object: But the distasts of nature to this duty, should make us not more weary but much more vigorous. As when the wood is green or wet, we do not throw down the bellows in a pet or anger, but we spend more time, and draw out more strength in the blow­ing, and in so doing there first riseth some smoak, then some sparkes, and by going forward, at last it breaks into a hot and bright flame: And so it is with the duty of divine meditation; when we first meditate on spiritual things, at first we raise a smoak of a few sighs towards God, and by continuance sparkes of holy affections fly up heaven-ward; Gen. 8. 21. but at last, there is a flame of seraphical loves, the soul is in an extasie with Jesus Christ. Now we should not give over In phrasi hac, primò est [...], tribuitur (que) deo, quod proprium est hominibus. Secundò, est metaphora, si­cut homines o­doribus gratis▪ suaviter offici­untur; it a deus delectatur file, & gratitudine Noah. Par. in Genes. meditating till this flame break out and ascend up towards God, as Noah's sacrifice, with a sweet smelling savour to the Divine Majesty. When a man goes forth in a calm and se­rene evening, and views the face of the Heavens, he shall at first see a star or two twinckle and peep forth, but if he continues his prospect, both their luster, and their number is increased, and at last the whole Heavens are bespangled with stars: So when we first meditate upon the promises of the Gospel, at first it may be, one star begins to appear, a little light conveighs it self to the heart; but let us go forward, and we shall find when our thoughts are ampli­fied and ripened, there will be a clear light, more satisfa­ction will be conveyed to the Soul; and in continuance of these divine meditations, the Covenant of Grace will be be­spangled with promises, as the Heavens with stars, to give us rich and full satisfaction.

But there are some signal and special seasons for the act­ing of this duty of meditation: Sometimes our affections are more smart and vigorous, our thoughts are more lively and unwearied, and so more disposed to this excellent ser­vice; and such seasons are our harvest for the acting of this duty, and reaping the great comfort of it.

1 The morning is an accommodated time for meditation; then the body hath been refreshed with the sweetness of The first season for meditation. rest, and so the impressions of toyle being worn off, it is the more active for the labours of meditation. David was with God before break of day. The morning Sun smiles with the Psal. 119. 147. most pleasant aspect when first it begins it's laborious circuit, Our thoughts are shot out of our minds with greatest strength in the morning, when our bodies can yield their most lively assistance, and there are many pregnant reasons for it.

1 Holy thoughts and meditations are most acceptable in that season. When we awake in the morning, many suitors at­tend our thoughts, aad every suitor useth urgent impor­tunity; Jer. 2. 3. now if spiritual things obtain the first admittance, this is most grateful to God. It cannot but be a sinful pro­vocation, that our thoughts should be as the Inne in Beth­lehem, Luke 2. 7. where strangers took up all the rooms, and Luke 2. 7. Christ was excluded, and was fain to lye in a manger. In­deed Charitas spon­sae, quae tot al­lecta beneficiis, sponso deo, in a­more, obedien­tiâ, et obsequio mutuò respon­dit, et eum de­periit. Lyran. it cannot but be matter of deploration, that vain and worldly thoughts should take up all the rooms of our souls in the morning, and Christ shut out: But for the preven­tion of this, let Divine things first attach our meditations, and this will be well-pleasing to the Lord. In the stilling of strong water, the first water which is drawn from the still is more full of spirits, and the second and the third they are weaker and smaller, and not of the same value: So the first meditations which are still'd from the mind in the morning are the best, and we shall find them more full Gen. 4. 4. of life and spirits, and they come nearer to Abels sacri­fice. Abel non etemandato tan­tùm, sed exside obtulit. The morning is the golden hour of the day, like the first springing grass, which is most pleasant to the eye, and most sweet to the taste. The morning is the first bud­ding [Page 116] of time; Let Christ have it in holy and divine specu­lations.

2 Meditation in the morning will be more influential. The Vessel which is first seasoned with that which is pretious and odoriferous, will retain the scent and tincture, nor will ea­sily lose it but with much toyle and labour. That of the wise man is considerable, When thou awakest, it will talk with Prov. 6. 22. thee. As Servants come to their Masters in the morning, and receive Rules from them, how they shall manage their business all the day following; So a gracious heart, which meditates on Gods Word, and things divine, in the morn­ing, those savoury tinctures abide on him all the day, and Qu [...] semel est imbu [...]a recers, servabit odo­r [...]m, te [...]ta diu. he walks with more circumspection and fruitfulness. Wind up thy heart towards Heaven in the morning, and it will go the better all the day. The wool takes the first dye best, and it is not easily worn out: The heart seasoned with holy meditations in the beginning, will keep this colour in grain. It would become us to perfume our minds with divine thoughts betimes on the day, that the smell may scatter it self to all we meet withall that day.

3 Equity requires our morning meditations to be sequestred, and set apart for God: Some of his first thoughts were set upon us; If we are in Christ, we had a being in his thoughts Eph. 1. 4. of love, before we had a being in the world; His earliest 1 Joh. [...] 19. loves fastened upon us, when we were onely in the possibi­lity Spirituales be­nedictiones in ipsâ aeternâ praedestirati­one suerunt no­bis in Christo praeparatae. Zanch. and futurition of a being: We had the morning of Gods thoughts, before ever the Sun did rise or shine in the World: What thoughts of free and rich Grace, what kind thoughts of mercy and peace had God of us from all ever­lasting? Let us in some measure retaliate the first loves of God, let us fix our thoughts upon God in holy meditation before the day breaks, and delivers the light, the infallible Jer. 31. 3. harbinger of it.

4 But more especially, the morning of a Sabbath is the most genuine and sweetest season for meditation, and that upon this two-fold account.

1 Holy meditation will fasten the heart upon God, which is very necessary upon the morning of a Sabbath. Medi­tation [Page 117] is properly the centring of the thoughts, (as was sug­gested before) and fixing them upon some spiritual object. Gen. [...]4. 1. Our hearts they are naturally slippery, and will be gadding with Dinah, unless they are kept at home, (viz.) with God, the proper home of the soul, by divine contemplation. It was the boast of holy David, that his heart was fixed; the Psal. 57. 7. fixing of the soul on God, is both the duty and the glory of a Psal. 108. 1. Christian. Now when once meditation hath fastened our thoughts on something divine, they will not be so easily call'd off, nor so subject to sinfull avocations, which will be a transcendent happiness on the Lords day.

2 Divine meditation will fledge and raise our affections, not onely six our hearts upon God, but draw them out to God in ardent and holy desires, which likewise is most suitable to the morning of a Sabbath. We light affection by the fire of meditation. On Gods holy day we should be in an extasie Psal. 42. 2. of love to Jesus Christ; and meditation is that which can elevate and draw up the desires to Christ; and when they are once raised, they do not so easily sink and fall again. Psal. 119. 97. When Bells are raised then they are musical, and proclaim their loud harmony to all who are within the hearing. The Psal. 19. 6. Sun when it is risen it ascends gradually, and runs its plea­sing and swift circuit, untill it be stopt by full noon. So Psal. 104 34. likewise the soul being raised by sweet and divine meditati­on on the morning of Gods holy day, it will be drawing out its holy fervencies and longings after God the whole Sabbath ensuing.

2 The next season for holy meditation, is the Evening: So we read of holy Isaac, He went out to meditate in the field at Even tide, Gen. 24. 63. When business is over, and every The second season for me­ditation. thing is calm, it is then a convenient time to let out our thoughts loose to fly up to God. God had his Evening as Exod. 29. 39. well as his Morning sacrifice. As the cream at the top is sweet, so is the sugar at the bottom. When the plummets Egressus Isaac in agrum ad m [...]ditandum, accepit praemi­um pietatis, sponsam scil. gratissimam. of our souls have been running down in worldly affairs and businesses in the day time, then in the Evening to draw up that weight of the Clock in holy meditation is most suitable and commendable; nor can any thing better become a Chri­stian, [Page 118] then in this duty to give God the Alpha and the Omega of every day.

3 The third season for holy Meditation, is the night time, when nature hath rockt every thing asleep, and silenced the world from interrupting noyses. This David leaves, as The third sea­son for medi­tation. the matter both of his command and example, Psal. 63. 6. The night season is sequestred from worldly affairs, and is Psal. 63. 6. not checkt with their clamorous importunity, nor is it a time Psal. 4. 4. distracted with the incursions of sensible objects; it is like­wise a time not accosted or besieged with frivolous or dan­gerous temptations: There are two things which do much fit and dispose the soul for Meditation, (viz.) Rest and Si­lence, Sancti laetantur dei patefactio­nibus, sed ti­more et tre­more. both which are to be found in the night: And to this may be added, when the curtains of darkness are drawn over the world, we are then filled with a religious fear of God; our hearts are more composed, and we entertain more solemn, and awfull apprehensions of the Divine Majesty, Stulte, quid est somnus gelidae nisi mortis ima­go? there is then a holy terrour struck upon the soul. And when we lie upon our beds; the bed is an image, and representa­tion of the Grave, and at such a time a man may be more se­rious, and composed for the duty.

4 But above all, let us consider, the Sabbath is the fittest time for meditation: On that day our Saviour arose from the The fourth sea­son for medi­tation. Earth, and our souls should ascend and raise themselves to­wards Heaven. And meditation doth not onely become the morning, but the whole day of a Sabbath; it must not onely be our morning dress, but the attire we must wear all the day. We should think with our selves, the Lords day it is a type of Heaven, and contemplation is the work of Heaven. The Heb. 4. 9. present Sabbath is onely the abridgement of that eternal rest, which the Saints shall enjoy with God; And they which disrelish this duty, how can they expect that glorious reward, which principally consists in the view and con­templation of God? A gracious soul upon the Lords day, by meditation may converse with God, and with the inhabi­tants of another world, he may enjoy as much of God, as this interposing vail of flesh will admit of. And thus much for the proper seasons of meditation.

4 The next thing which will further illustrate this blessed duty of meditation is the evidencing of the great advantages The great ad­vantages of meditation. of it, which are both rich and many: As several Diamonds are found in the same Rock, and much Gold crowded into the same Mine. Let us therefore take these manifold Emolu­ments in their Order.

1 Meditation is a vigorous antidote against sin, It is rare phy­sick to purge away or prevent that poyson: Most sin for want of meditation: There are two great snares which take most The first ad­tage of medi­tation. men, and intangle them in sin, (viz.) Ignorance and Inco­gitancy; when we either not know our danger, or not con­sider our duty. Men certainly would not be so brutishly sen­sual as they are, if they did seriously weigh things in the ballance by solemn and holy meditation. If they did meditate on the strength of Gods Arme, on the strictness of Gods Ju­stice, Exod. 15. 16. on the consuming power of his Wrath; if they seri­ously considered how infinitely evil sin is, how much it Nehem. 9. 33. affronted Divine Purity, and broke in pieces Divine Laws, Heb. 12. 29. how exceedingly it endangered the soul, and how deeply it Psal. 5. 3. wounded the conscience; surely men would flee all appear­ances 1 Joh. 3. 4. of evil, and repulse a temptation in its first onset. It is sin which puts a worm into Conscience, a sting into Death, 1 The [...]. 5. 22. a curse into the Law, and fire into Hell. Men meditate not Rom. 2. 15. on these things, and so they are entangled in the snare. Holy meditation is a golden shield against the darts of sinfull temptations. In this case meditation would be as the An­gels Judg. 22. 23. sword, to stop us in our sinfull cariere, and to strike us into clammy sweats and heavy damps, that we should not sport our selves in the wayes and traverses of sin and provo­cation. Joseph's meditation on Gods presence and omnipo­tency, Gen. 39. 9. Josephus cir­cumseptus fui [...] pulcherrima­rum virtutum choro, quarum hortatu, victor evasit. spoyled the design of his Mistris her dalliance, and kept him within the limits of holiness and chastity. Medi­tation makes the heart like we [...] tinder, it will not take the Devils fire. In a word, it is strange rashness in men, that they will be taken in the ambushes of sin, before they seri­ously meditate on what they are going about.

2 Holy meditation keeps vain and foolish thoughts out of the heart, it prepossesseth the soul, that frivolous imagina­tions The second ad­vantage of meditation. [Page 120] tions are wholly shut out. God complains of the people of Israel, that they were wholly taken up with vain thoughts, Jer. 4. 14. Jer. 4. 14. And so it is with most men, their minds are fil­led with froth and vanity, and varieties of foolish thoughts croud in upon them, as flyes swarm to the place where the honey lies, and those incautelous persons consider not, that [...] Chrysost. sin begins at the thoughts, which are the first plotters and contrivers of all evil; the heart is the womb whereall sin is conceived and framed; and outward acts onely midwife the sinfull birth into the world, and make it visible: The mind and fancy is the stage where sin is first acted. The malicious O quàm vanae sunt hominum cogitationes; una cogitatio foelix est, cogi­tare de domino. Hieron. in Psal. man acts over his sin in his thoughts, he plots his revenge; the impure person acts over his concupiscence in his thoughts, he contrives his lust: And it is much to be deplored, how much wickedness is committed in the chambers of our thoughts. Now meditation on things Divine, the Purity of God, the Promises of God, would be a Soveraign means to exite and banish such vain and flatulent thoughts. Hierome 2 Cor. 7. 1. cries out, How vain are the thoughts of men, there is but one thought considerable, and that is, to think on God. If David had carried the Book of the Law about him, and meditated 2 Sam. 11. 2. on it, he had not looked on Bathsheba with such a wanton Psal. 1. 2. eye; Holy meditation would have quenched the fire of that lust. This heavenly duty hath this advantage in it, it presses the thoughts for the service of Christ, nor will permit them to wander in a sinfull liberty.

3 Meditation it puts life into Ordinances, and makes them sweet and savoury to the soul. Ordinances they are like The third ad­vantage of meditation. cloaths which have no warmth in themselves, but as they are heated by the body which wears them; and so Ordi­nances have no energy or quickning power in themselves, but as the divine spirit co-operates with them, and our serious meditation makes them fruitfull and effectual. If we canvas an Ordinance or two, we shall find this more apparent and manifest. Shall we instance

1 In Prayer. Meditation before prayer, is like the tuning of an Instrument, and the fitting it for melody and harmony; This holy duty of meditation doth mature our conceptions, [Page 121] excite our desires, and screw up our affections: what is the Preces non tam verbis, quam a­nimo aestiman­tur. Chemnit. reason, there is such a discurrency in our thoughts, such a running of them to and fro when we are in Prayer, like dust blown up and down with the wind, but onely for want of meditation? And what is the reason, that our de­sires [...]. in prayer, are like an arrow shot out of a weak bow, that they do not reach the mark, but onely upon this ac­count, we do not meditate before prayer? He who would but consider before he comes to prayer, the pure Majesty of God, the holiness of his Nature, the quickness of his Eye, the strength of his Hand, and that he will be sanctified by all Acts 1. 14. who draw near to him, as likewise those things he is to pray Ipsa majestas dei, est origo et fundamentum gloriae; Gloria ex Majestate emanat sicut radius â sole. Alap. for, the pardon of Sin, the spirit of Grace, the assurance of Gods Love, an inheritance with the Saints in light, Col. 1. 12. How would this cause his prayer to ascend, as incense before God? David expresses prayer by meditation; Give ear to my words O Lord, consider my meditation, Psal. 5. 1.

2 In hearing the word, the benefit of it much depends upon meditation. Before we hear the word, meditation is the plough Dum terra la­bori, et agri­culturae respon­det, ipse deus novas pluvias et novas solis caeli (que) influen­tias immutit. which opens the ground to receive the seed; and after we have heard the word; meditation is as the harrow which co­vers the new sown seed in the earth, that the Fowls of the air may not pick it up. Meditation makes the Word full of sap and juice, life and vigour to the attentive hearer: What is the reason; that most men come to hear the word, as the beasts came into the Ark, they came in unclean, and they went out unclean? it is, because they do not meditate on the truths they hear; they put truth into shallow and negle­ctive memories, and they do not draw it out by serious me­ditation. It is said of the Virgin Mary, that she pondered Luke 2. 19. [...] tanquam se­men in agro. those things in her heart. A steddy and considerate medita­tion on divine truth would produce warm affections, zealous resolutions, and holy actions. If we will profit by the Word, let us conscionably meditate on the Word.

3 In receiving the Sacrament: Meditation puts a taste upon that divine feast; Examination is commanded before we ap­proach this Supper; now this duty of Examination is [Page 122] best managed by meditation. He who meditates aright con­cerning 1 Cor. 11. 28. him who is the Author, the Object, the end of the Haec [...] in tribus p [...]rti­bus consistit 1 In agnitione mise­riae, et peccato­rum magnitudi­nis, & reatus gravitatis. 2. In fide et fiduciá mediatoris, ne desperatione ab­sorbeamur. 3 In serio resipiscen­tiae, et novae obedientiae pro­posito. Par. Luke 22. 15. Sacrament, and considers with himself, what rich testimo­nies of Grace there are to the worthy receiver; how will this dispose the soul to that holy Ordinance? And he who meditates of his infinite misery out of Christ, and of his hap­piness in a dear Redeemer; how will this encourage and sharpen his desires to come to the Lord Jesus, and meet him at his own table? And in receiving we should meditate on the sufferings of Christ, for the Sacrament is onely the abridge­ment of Christs agony: And we should likewise meditate on the affections and loves of Christ, for the Sacrament is a Copy of his love. The Sacrament is food, and so we must receive it with an appetite and strong desires, but this food must be carefully concocted by meditation.

4 The fourth advantage we receive by meditation, is the strengthning and recruit of our Graces. Indeed grace The fourth ad­vantage by meditation. and meditation are reciprocal causes of each other; medi­tation maintanes grace, and grace exercises meditation. A gracious heart with Moses, ascends the mount of medita­tion Exod. 24. 15. to meet with God, and then his face shines, his graces are more illustrious and resplendent. Meditation feeds three royal Graces with supply and support.

1 First, Faith receives recruit from this heavenly duty. Fides est quasi column [...], et fun­damentum in terrâ jactum, fides inter om­nes res, est soli­dissima, certis­suna, et firmis­sima. Chrysost. Heb. 11. 19. When our faith languisheth, and our thoughts are ready to terminate in despair, then meditation brings a cordial, it fixes upon the power of God, which is faiths great supporter in all our temptations. When the soul shall meditate thus; that God by his own Fiat, his own Word, gave being to the World, and raised this glorious superstructure where man now inhabits, and that his power is no less then infinite, reducing into act, and being whatsoever the Divine Will shall command; how doth this underprop our faith, and preserve it, and secure it against the quick-sands of un­belief? Haec suit invi­cta illa fidei [...], et ba­sis, in mandato et promissioni­bus dei radi­ca [...]a. Thus Abraham meditates on Gods power, and this meditation so steels and backs his faith, that it breaks through the most rigorous and fierce onsets of tryal and temptation, and so becomes laureat and victorious.

2 Another grace which flourishes and thrives on the Mount of meditation, is Hope; Faith is confirmed, and hope is enlar­ged 1 Tit. 1. 1. Tit. 2. 13. Col. 1. 5. Quaerat aliquis quando per [...]e­niam ad spera­tum gaudium, respo [...]dendum cum deus dede­rit, nullae sunt l [...]ngae morae e­jus, quòd certò donabit. Tert. Psal. 103 5. by meditation; the hand of faith is strengthned, and the wing of hope is plumed by this excellent duty. If a Chri­stian should consider by 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.

3 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.

5 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 [Page 124] 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.

5 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 [Page 125] 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.

6 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.

1 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; Intell [...]ctus, et mens, est sedes sapientiae, [...] veteres puta­bant. when we meditate, we rally up our thoughts to fall up­on some divine object: This holy duty is properly the task of the understanding. The Tongue works in prayer; the Ear bends in hearing, the Hand is stretcht out in Sacramen­tall receiving, the Eye toyls in reading, the Heart is, or ought Jam. 5. 16. Mat. 11. 15. to be employed in every sacred service; but the Mind is ta­ken [Page 126] up in meditating on sublime and supernatural objects. The Eagles of the thoughts fly upon this Carcass; to allude Mat. 24. 28. to our Saviour.

2 Meditation fructifies duty, without which the truths of God will not stay with us. The heart is naturally hard, the memory slippery, and all lost without meditation, every drop Mark 8. 17. runs out again, and the whole web of divine service is unra­vell'd. The Apostle compares the word to rain, Heb. 6. 7. Heb. 6. 7. Now it is meditation onely which saves this rain water, that it sheds not, and run in waste. This necessary duty of meditation it fastens truth upon the heart, and is like the selvedge which keeps the cloath from ravelling; It is the engraving of letters in Gold or Marble which will endure; without this piece of holy duty, all the preaching of the Cor est sons sa­pientiae. Word, is but writing in sand, or pouring water into a sieve. Reading and hearing without meditation, is like weak phy­sick which will not work. The Word cannot be in the heart, Deut. 6. 6. unless it be wrought in by holy meditation; this is the ham­mer which drives the nail to the head. Ordinances with­out this duty are but spiritual pageantries, a pleasant land­skip, which when we have viewed, we presently forget. Jam. 1. 23. Knowledge without meditation is like the glaring of a Sun­beam upon a wave, it rushoth into the thoughts and is gone. There is very much in this duty to fix truth upon us. Carnal mens thoughts they are usually flight and trivial▪ they know things, but they are loath to let their thoughts dwell upon them. Musing makes the fire burn. Men musing and medi­tating Psal. 39. [...]. on the Word are much affected, and then they are ready to say, now we taste the sweets of our beloved, we lie Psal. 119. 93. under the force and power of the Word.

3 Meditation it sweetens our life here below. The contem­plative Christian lives in the Suburbs of Heaven. How did meditation cast a flavour upon Davids soul, and fill it with Psal. 63. 5. aromatick and perfuming impressions? Geographers are at a loss to find the place where Paradise was; now to stop their curiosities, it may be replyed, it may be found in the fra­grant tract of heavenly meditation. When we meditate upon the sweetness of scriptural promises, upon workings of Christs [Page 127] heart towards believers, upon the watchfulness of Gods eye over his people, upon the all sufficiency of our Saviours merit for 1 Cor. 2. 9. life and salvation, upon the recompence of reward, so great that 2 Cor. 12. 1. mans thoughts cannot grasp it; how do these, and such Rev. 1. 10. like things raise us to St. Pauls rapture, or St John's extasie, which were the initials of Glory to those heavenly Apo­stles? Quid est, quòd futura laetitia in cor non as­cendit? qui [...] sons est, et as­censum nes [...]it. Bern. It may be averred for certain, that the neglect of this duty brings a searcity of comfort upon our lives, which otherwise might meet with a plenteous harvest, and a con­stant revenue of joy and satisfaction.

CHAP. XV. What we must meditate upon, on the morning of the Lords day.

HAving thus drawn the portraicture, and given a descri­ption of this duty of meditation, with the blessed ap­pendices which do attend it, as its seasons, advantages, &c. I now come to present suitable objects, for this duty to prey upon, and so to raise a little stock for meditation to trade with. And as to the Queries, (viz.) What we must medi­tate on in the spring and morning of the Sabbath? It is an­swered, Dies vitae no­strae est dies parasceves, in quo laboramus, et cum Christo patimur, succe­dit dies quietis in sepulchro, quem sequitur dies resurrecti­onis ad vitam. Ger. whatsoever is spiritual, any thing of a spiritual na­ture; we may meditate on the promises of God, the loves of Christ, the strictness of the Law, the sweetness of the Gospel, on the filthiness of Sin, on the vanity of the Creature, on the excellency of Grace; we may muse, and fix our thoughts upon the estate of our souls, and of the fewness of them who shall be saved; so likewise upon Death or Judgement. As holy David, sometimes he meditated on the works of God, some­times on the Word of God, and sometimes on God himself. But I shall onely open a double fountaine to feed our medita­tions Psal. 143. 5. Psal. 119. 148. Psal. 63. 6. on the morning of the Sabbath, (Viz.)

• 1. Let us meditate on the God of the Sabbath.
• 2. On the Sabbath of God.

These two superlative objects, are like mount Hor, and mount Nebo, where Moses and Aaron took their prospects, Numb. 33. 38. Deut. 32. 49. [Page 128] before they were conveighed to the mountane of Spices: we Cant. 8. 14. will handle them distinctly; And

1. Let us meditate on the God of the Sabbath. Indeed this Divine and admirable object takes up the views and con­templations of holy Angels, and the inhabitants of glory, Mat. 18. 10. who spend eternity in beholding God face to face: But yet some glances we may have of this soveraign being by holy Cor. 13. 12. and spiritual meditation.

CHAP. XVI. God is most glorious in his essence and nature.

1 LEt us meditate on the essence of God. He is an infinite being, the fulness of Heaven, the mirrour of Angels, Exod. 15. 11. Creasti nos do­mine propter te, et irrequie­tum est cor no­strum, donec perveniat ad te. August. the delight of Saints; so glorious in himself, that he is onely perfectly known by himself. God is an Ocean of goodness, a fountaine of life, a spring of grace, a father of mercies, mans center to which he must come, before he find quietation or rest for his soul. He is so infinitely glorious, that he must be described by removing from him what he is not, rather then by asserting what he is. The eyes of Angels are too weak to behold him, and must make use of a vail alittle to re­mit De deo, dicisa­cilius potest, quid non sit, quam quid sit. Rivet. the beams of his glory. Our knowledge of him is onely borrowed from his own discoveries. Let us then meditate on,

1 The everlastingness of his nature. He is the antient of dayes, He was before time was fledged, and had either wing Dan. 7. 9, 22. Psal. 102. 28 Psal. 29. 9. Rev. 4. 8. Rom. 16. 26. Isa. 57. 15. Psal. 90. 2, or feather; His duration admits neither of beginning or end­ing; God is the first and eternal being; He did shine in per­fections before the foundations of the world were laid; He is from everlasting to everlasting, His Name is everlasting God, Gen. 21. 33. His Armes are everlasting arms; His Mercy is everlasting mercy; He is the everlasting Father, Isa. 9. 6. His Strength is everlasting strength, Isa. 26. 4. His Kind­ness Rex seculorum est proprium dei attributum. sig­nificans quod deus est primum et aeternumens. Alap. Respondisse fertur Thales Milesius inter­rogantibus quid sit divinitas? [...]. is everlasting kindness, Isa. 54. 8. His heart was full of love, before man was created to be the object of it, nay, he [Page 129] had his delights in himself, before he had his darling Man to let out his love upon. The Prophet calls God an ever­lasting light, Isa. 60. 19, 20. which shews, there was no twilight before this illustrious and bright Sun. His years fail not, there is no faintness can seize upon his Nature, nay, his years cannot be numbred, Isa. 36. 26. There can be no termination of his being. He inhabits Eternity, Isa. 57. 15. there he alwayes dwelt. The World is but a latter production, to which he was pleased to give a being accord­ing to his good pleasure.

2 Let us meditate on the Independency of his being. He sub­sists of himself, and all things leane on the arm of his power, and hang upon the good hand of his providence; He sustains Acts 17. 28. the Angels; He supplies man not onely with bread, but Psal. 147. 9. with breath; He feeds the young Ravens, they seek their meat at his hand. God is the universal purveyor of the World; and He supports this beautiful fabrick, which else Psal 104 29. would soon sink into its primitive nothing, and he doth it by his own manutenency. Should God withdraw his fu­stentation, the whole Creation would faint and dye away; He is the great King which maintains the Universe; He pre­serves Psal. [...]6 9. the stranger; He relieves the fatherless and the wid­dow, as the Psalmist speaks; nay, all things here below are constant stipendaries to this infinite God.

3 Let us meditate▪ on the variety of his Excellencies. He is excellent in Greatness, He can wound the hairy scalp of the sinner, and break him in pieces as a potters vessel; His Exod. 15. 7, Psal. 63. 21. Sword is called the sword of his Excellency, Deut. 33. 29. as that weapon which can pierce the heart of his Enemies; His loving kindness is radiant with Glory and Excellency; How glorious and excellent is his mercy to draw sinners out of the dust, and seat them with Angels in eternal glory: And God is not onely excellent in loving, but he is so in Exod. 14. 22. working; He can bring mighty things to pass, keep the wa­ter D [...]n. 3. 25. from drowning, the fire from burning, the Lions from D [...]n. 6. 22. devouring, the Sun from posting; His works are glorious in Jo [...]h. 10. 13. excellency. In a word, whatsoever is excellent is originally Isa 28. 29. seated in God, and the creatures excellency is but a drop from [Page 130] this Ocean, a ray from this glorious Sun. If God put on Psal. 93. 1. his Attire, he cloaths himself with Majesty, his inward Psal. 104. 1. garment is Strength, his outward wear is Honour; the Sun beams are shades, compared to the glittering of his appa­rel.

4 Let us meditate on the luster of his appearances. When God discovers himself, Angels cannot look upon him, they are dazled with that overcoming sight, and poor Man is fright­ed Isa. 6. 5. into despair, Isa. 6. 5. And so Manoah said to his Wife, Psal. 68. 9. We shall surely dye, because we have seen God. If God appears Judg. 13. 22. in his Glory, Mount Sinai smoaks and flames, as if it was turned into an Aetna or Vesuvius, those Mountains of Sicily Heu mihi! pe­rii, occidi, defe­ci ex consterra tione tantae vi­sionis. Alap. and Campania, which continually disgorge themselves in smoak and fire. If God cast an eye upon the Earth, it trem­bles, if he but touch the mountains they smoak, Psal. 144. 32. Nay, if God wrap himself up in a Cloud, that dark ap­pearance Exod. 19. 18. pearance is so full of Glory, that the people keep at a di­stance, Terra dicitur siluisse conspe­ctu Alexandri pavore concus­sa, nec resistere ausa est. and the Priests dare not make any near approach, 2 Chron. 5. 13, 14. The most refracted manifestation of God astonisheth, and strikes man into a consternation. When God appears he must put on the mask of a cloud, or else poor dust would unsoder, and fall before him. His appear­ance Exod. 3. 5. Exod. 19. 18. Isa. 2. 10, 19. Exod. 40. 34, 35. Exod. 16. 10. Isa. 2. 10. in the bush sanctified the ground; His appearance on the Mount multiplyed the flame; His appearance to sin­full Israel drives them into holes, and places of retire­ment. Isa. 2. 10. How was Moses raised with the dazling appearance of Gods back parts on Mount Sinai? Exod. 34. 6. And the Apostles ravished with Christs splendid and se­raphick Exod. 34 6, 35. Mat. 17. 2, 3, 4, 5. appearance in the transfiguration? His glorious ap­pearance in Heaven feeds the songs of Angels; His gracious appearance on earth to his poor wasting people fills their hearts with joy, and they are refreshed and refined by it; And his powerful appearance in Hell fills the damn'd with horrour and despair, Job 37. 2. When God appears in Or­dinances, Job 37. 22. Mat. 18. 20 Acts 2. 37. Psal. 63. 5. those very Ordinances become the Cordials of Grace, the Instruments of conversion, the Paradise of the soul, the fulfilling of a promise, the chariots of Christ to con­vey him to the believer, and the banes of the most head­strong corruptions.

5 Let us meditate on the tender goodness of his mercies. His mercy is great in point of quantity; His mercy is numerous Gen. 19 19. Num. 14 19. Psal. 5. 7. in point of multitude; God hath a large off-spring of love; His mercy is sweet and soft in point of quality, Psal. 103. 4. Sure mercy in point of perpetuity, Acts 13. 34. Sheltring mercy, where the believer may retire himself, in point of se­curity, Ʋnus est dei fi­lius, u [...]um ver­b [...]m [...]ed mise­ria nostra est multiplex non tantùm mag­nam misericor­diam, sed et mi­serationum quaerit multi­tudinem. Psal. 13. 5. His mercy fills earth, Psal. 119. 64. reacheth to the heavens, Psal. 57. 10. Nay, it presseth into the Heavens, Psal. 36. 5. Nay, it is so great, it gets above the Heavens, Psal. 108. 4. And Mercy is not onely an out­ward dispensation from God, but a sweet disposition in God, Nehem. 9. 17. It is a pearl in his Crown, it is a letter in his Name, Exod. 34. 6. and a great letter too; Nay, it is a beam of his glory; He delights to shew mercy; His mercy is not above all his attributes, that is impossible, for what is in God, is God, but it is above all his works, Psal. 145. 9. Qui [...]quid est in deo, est deus. Psal. 145. 9. Gen. 22. 17. 2 Chron. 33. 12. How sweet was his mercy in multiplying Abraham's Seed; in knocking off Israels bonds; in sanctifying Manassah's Fetters; in throwing Devils out of Mary Magdalen, and introducing himself in the room; in stopping Paul in the carier of his persecution of the Saints, and destruction to Exod. [...]2 51. Luke 8. 2. himself: It was Mercy p [...]nned the Covenant of Grace, sent an onely Son into the world; and it is the same mercy which Acts 9. 4, 5. Deus non pater judiciorum aut ultionum dici­tur, sed Pater misericordia­rum non [...]dò quia Pater fili­crum misere [...] timentium so, sed quod mise­rendi causam et originem sumat ex proprio. Bern. scatters Gospel-light for mans direction to eternal life: Di­vine mercies are the brightest rayes to enlighten us, the sweet­est drops to soften us, the surest forts to safe-guard us. The Hand of mercy giveth us the bonds of the promises; the Ear of mercy gives us an account of our prayers; the Tongue of mercy speaks comfortably to us in our distresses; the Eye of mercy beholds and pities us in our falls and lapses; the Heart of mercy yearns over us in our sins and iniquities. A learned man observes, God in infinite mercy places our justi­fication upon faith, not upon works, upon the stretching out of a hand, not the exact performance of a work; If God should lay the stress upon accurate obedience, we should assuredly fall short of a Crown.

6 Let us meditate on the glory of his wonders. He is a won­der-working God; He can fetch water out of the Rock, Exod. 17. 6. Gen. 19. 24. [Page 132] send fire out of heaven, he can rain down Manna, and so Exod. 16. 4. furnish the table with a showre, and fetch provisions, not 2 Kings 20. 10. from the Kitchin, but the Clouds; He can make the Sun Dan. 3. 25. run in a retrograde motion, and turn a flaming furnace into an arboret, a walk of safety and delight; He can fright Ar­mies 2 Kings 7. 6. with a noyse, they shall be discomfited by the weak 2 Kings 19. 7. sound of a rumour; He can raise an host of Caterpillers, Joel 2. 25. and Palmer worms, and they shall do execution, and over­throw his Enemies without Sword or Spear. Christ can Mark 6. [...]2. John 2 9. prepare bread without going to the meal in the Barrel, and provide wine without going to the store in the wine Cellar, and his Command shall yield more then the Vine: And the wonders of God

1 Sometimes they are destructive; They strangled the first-born of Aegypt, and washed away the Princeliness and Glory Exod. 12. 29. of the Land of Ham, in the Red Sea. God miraculously stir­red Exod. 14. 28. 2 Chro. 20. 2, 3. up the Inhabitants of Seir, to help forward the destru­ction one of another.

2 Sometimes Gods wonders are preservative. The Ma­riners see Gods wonders in the deep; and the boisterous Psal. 104. 24. waves by Gods wonderfull power, are their Pillars, not their Dan. 6. 22. Perdition, they support them, not swallow them up: Thus Deu [...] solus est qui [...]acit mira­cula, mult [...] enim sunt stultis mi­racula, quae ta­lia non sunt sa­pientibus. Aug. God wonderfully preserved Daniel in the Lions Den, and those beasts of prey served for his Guard, and not his execution, Gods wonders are sometimes walls of fire to scorch and burn, and sometimes walls of brass to secure and defend: Sometimes God works wonderfully to shew his love and faith­fulness, and sometimes to shew his wrath and indignation.

3 Gods wonders are sometimes declarative, they are the essay of his power before the eyes of the world; the Heavens take notice of them, Psal. 89. 5. The children of men take no­tice Psal. 89. 5. Job 9. 10. Psal. 105. 5. Psal. 77. 14, 15. Nehem. 9. 10, Josh. 2 10. Psal. 136. 4. of them, Job. 9. 10. Holy Job was a notary to set them down, and the sweet singer of Israel an instrument to set them out, Psal. 105. 5. And not onely the children of Is­rael, Nehem. 9. 10. But the people of the Nations have ta­ken notice of the wonders of the Lord, Josh. 2. 10. and re­sented them with astonishment and admiration.

CHAP. XVII. God is most Adorable in his blessed Attributes.

2 LEt us meditate on the Attributes of God. The Divine Attributes are those glorious beams which give us the best discovery of the Divine Being; His Justice is a scorching beam; His Mercy is a warming beam; His Faithfulness is a refreshing beam; His Truth is an enlightning beam; His In­finiteness is a dazling beam; His Power is a piercing beam: But this prospect is so pleasant, we cannot so suddenly take off our eye, and therefore we shall glance at the Divine At­tributes something more distinctly.

1 Let us meditate on the Power of God: His Power, as his Glory, is transcendent: He can bow the Heavens; he can Psal. 144. 5. Judges 5. 20. Job 37. 16. Psal. 104. 32. Isa. 5. 26. Isa. 7. 18. Exod. 14, 24, 25. marshal the Stars; he can ballance the Clouds, he can destroy single persons; he can subvert whole Cities, wash away the World with a Flood; he can make the Mountains smoak with a touch; he can summon the Nations with a hiss: and he can take off Pharaohs Chariot wheels with a look. If God frown, the Mountains quake, the Hills melt, the Earth is burnt, the World is blasted, and the Inhabitants of it tremble, Nah. 1. 5. He can scatter Nations, hurle Moun­tanes Lev. 10. 1, 2. to and fro as the dust, Hab. 3. 6. Such divine disco­veries Gen. 19. 24. of Gods infinite power we meet with in sacred writ. Gen. 7. 19. He created the World by the Power of his Word, and bl [...]w Ad imperium, nutum, etinstin­ctum dei volen­tis puni [...]e Ju­daeos, sta [...]im quasi li [...]lores accurrunt Egy­ptii, et Assi [...]ii, sibilo tantùm o­pus est, et ad­volant. Alap. the Ʋniverse into a being by the breath of his mouth; His Fiat reared the Heavens and the Earth into an existence; it fill'd the Sun with light, bespangled the Firmament with stars, deck't the fields with grass, laded the trees with fruit, and made the vallies sing with Corn, Psal. 65. 13. Paradise, Mans first and delightfull seat, was but the issue of Gods Commanding Power. He planted every Flower, he sowed e­very Seed, he set up every Tree, not with his Hand, but his Word. And as in Naturals, so is Gods Power seen in Spiritu­als: He can subdue the strongest corruptions, break the hard­est Ezek. 11. 19. Dan. 4. 33. Luke 7. 38. Jer. 5. 22, hearts, relieve the most fainting graces; he can unhorse [Page 134] the proudest Persecutors, and put the greatest Kings to 2 Sam. 17. 23. grass, and throw the leudest Curtizans at his fect. And as Hest. 7. 10. Gods Power is seen in perfective, so in destructive actions; he 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.

2 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, fatu [...]a, magna, et par­va, quibus sci­entia divina non vi escit, et ani­mi recessus, dicta con [...]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 [...]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 [Page 135] 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.

3 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 infinit [...]m [...] ite­rationem signi­ficantia: est e­nim deus ter sanctus sanctis­simus, sanctitas ips [...], 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.

4 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 Judi [...]ia d [...]i sunt [...]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. 1 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

2 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 most exact in his wisdom and knowledge; He un­derstands humanam et Angeli [...]m sci­enti [...]m: Primò Ratione Obje­cti, Deus cog­ [...]oscit omnia prae [...]e [...]ta, prae­sentia, et futura. Se [...]undò Ratione modi, deus omnia every thing as it is an object of knowledge fully and perfectly; he is comprehensive of every vein and artery of all things possibly to be known; he fully knows the na­ture of Angels, every faculty of mans soul, every thought of mans heart, every muscle and vein of mans body, &c. But poor man sees things onely in the twi-light, his know­ledge is both shart and superficial.

3 God understands not things by their species and effects as man doth, but by his own essence, which is the most clear glass he seeth all things in. Man knows things extrinsically, cognoscit per­fectissime. Tertiò ratione medii, non per species out effectus sed per essentiam suam and a posterioni as they lye open to his senses, and by that portal make way to his understanding.

4 God understands all things presently, without any dila­tory view, or long debate, but in an instant, by the glance of his eye he sees all things before him; But man attains his knowledge by study, care and painfulness, and usually great clarissime om­nia videt et cognoscit. Q [...]artò ratione celeritatis, &c. knowledge accompanies gray hairs, and he usually beats out knowledge with difficulty, with reasonings pro and con; and his conclusions suppose premises, the method of his at­tainment being syllogistical.

5 God knows all things certainly and assuredly, and those things too which in themselves are most uncertain and con­tingent; he knew whether the inhabitants of Keilah would 1 Sam. 23. 12. deliver up David or no a most contingent thing, 1 Sam. 23. 12. and of which David was wholly ignorant, though one of Gods endeared ones: but Mans knowledge is floating and wavering, and for the most part opinionative and conjectu­ral.

6 God knows all things from Eternity, when Man lay on­ly in the womb of a decree, before he was born, or pro­duced in the world; the knowledge of God had its rise Psal. 102. 24. before time it self was fledged, or could spread its wing.

7 Gods knowledge is subject to no change or variation; it is alwayes the same, and is never either in the increase or the decrease: but Mans knowledge is both subject to flushes and abatements, and may be impaired not onely by ignorance, but forgetfulness. Gods knowledge may be compared to the Sun, which alwayes shineth on us with the same rayes of bright­ness (Eclipses onely excepted:) But the knowledge of Man is like the Moon, which hath both its increase and its wains, besides innate spots, which are the emblems and hie­rogliphicks of darkness and deformity.

8 The knowledge of God, is the cause of all things which have an existence. First, God knows all creatures in his own incomprehensible wisdom, and then he gives them a being by the creating power of his Word; He first sees them in the glass of his essence, and then blows them into a being and existence by the breath of his mouth, by his commanding Word. But mans knowledge speaks something of observa­tion, but nothing of production. God creates the object; Man onely takes the prospect.