The Doctrine and Law of the Holy Sabbath

Mr. Colman 's SERMONS ON THE Holy Sabbath.

TO THE READER

IT is only the Scriptural way of treating this Noble Subject, that hath inclined me to make public the following Discourses. It seems to me the Method most easy and perspicuous, most natural and just, most profitable and acceptable to them that value the Subject; which all serious Christians will do. You have here almost the whole voice of Scripture concerning the Holy Sabbath of the Lord in a very small compass, and the several Texts almost in the same Order wherein they lie in the Holy Bible. I would hope by this means, as thro' a Burning glass (under the Blessing of the sanctifying Spirit ) to collect the rays of the Divine light, and bear them down with heavenly heat upon the Reader 's mind and heart.— Not that by any Art of mine the Glass of the Word can be thus formed and fashioned; but I have found it thus formed and fashioned to my hand by the Blessed Inspirer of it, and bring it a sacred Mite to the Treasury of the Sanctuary from whence I received it. May the Lord of the Sabbath please to accept the Offering, and effectually own it by blessing it to its desired End; which is to enlighten us more in, and animate us more unto, this great and singular Duty of Man thro' out all Generations, the keeping holy the Sabbath Day. — I have not gone formally into Directions and Motives on this Head, which are abundant in many Treatises already in your hands; but I hope the Reader will find these everywhere suggested to him thro' the Discourses before him; and in a particular manner be led and excited to consider and improve his Sabbaths as a Sign and Memorial of the Covenant of Grace, and the blessed Seasons and Means of Sanctification. — So our Fathers, like wise and good Men, began with God in the planting of these Churches: They covenanted with God to be his People and to keep his Sabbaths, and they found Him to be the Lord their Sanctifier. The reverend Observation of the Lord's-day was their distinguishing honor and glory, and the fruits of holiness to the praise and glory of God abounded among them.— As the World grows upon us in its numbers and trade, we are growing out of this our primitive purity and beauty; but it is visible that the decay of Sanctity bears proportion to our declension in Sabbath Sanctification. We had need therefore to remember how we have received and heard, and hold fast and repent; let no man take our Crown. I know no one Rule more compendious, comprehensive and effectual for the revival and perpetuity of Religion among us than this, that we keep the LORD's Sabbaths, as a Sign between Him and us thro' out our Generations, that HE is the Lord that doth sanctify us.

I N these words the great Law of the Sabbath is repeated to Moses, and by him unto the Children of Israel, with an awful preface and a most powerful reason annexed. The preface is much the same with that from Heaven, and Sinai, before the ten Commandments; And God spake all these Words saying, I am the Lord thy God. Let us reverently attend and answer, I will hear what God the Lord will speak.

THE Commandment is here given in the most august, authoritative and peremptory manner: Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep. More Authority and Commandment cannot well be put into fewer words.

Lastly, HERE is a special and most weighty reason annexed, to enforce the precept: for it is a sign, &c. It is great condescension and grace in God to us, to annex a reason to any of his Commands. His sovereign Will is the highest reason. But there is much of Majesty and much Grace in this reason: It is a sign between me and you: And will God in very deed give us such a sign and token between Himself and us? will he in very deed deal so with man upon earth? And give a standing sign too thro' out all the Generations of man on earth? O the favor and grace to dust, while he humbles himself to behold the things that are above!

BUT what is the Lord's Sabbath a sign of thro' all our Generations? Why it signifies and lets us know 1. that he is the Lord: Lord of the world, Lord of our time, Lord of our lives; the great Proprietor and absolute Disposer of them. And 2. that he is the Lord our Sanctifier: that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.

BUT how the Sabbath is a sign of this, and why this is a reason for our keeping and sanctifying the Sabbath, is to be said under the Doctrines, which are these two:

• 1. That the Great GOD vehemently requires of us the Sanctification of his Sabbath.
• 2. That it is a sign between Him and us that He is the Lord our Sanctifier.

1. D. THE Lord our God has most strictly and vehemently required the Observation and keeping Sabbath. Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep. Words cannot be stricter than these are. And in this manner the precept is always given: Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, I am the Lord. Lev. 19.30 — I shall only observe to you how strictly and vehemently this law of the Sabbath is insisted on thro' the whole Bible.

I. IT was a Law to man from the beginning of the world, and the first Law (and second Blessing) that was given to man, even in Paradise, in his state of innocence. For if man had never sinned, yet there would forever have remained to him the keeping of a Sabbath, every seventh day: As you read, Gen. 2.1, 2, 3. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them, ond on the seventh day God ended his Work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made; and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work which he had created and made. So from the Creation of the world God instituted a weekly Sabbath, for the perpetual solemn praises of the Creator from the Sons of men. He sanctified the Day,

The seventh day was ordained a Universal and Everlasting holy Festival from the Day wherein Man was created. This magnifies the Sabbath and makes it honorable, and sacred forever to us, that it was the first of God's Laws to man. Thus we keep And it leaves us no room to question Adam 's keeping the Sabbath day.

THIS solemn and early Injunction of a Sabbath to man is a Circumstance that puts great honor and dignity upon the Sabbath-day. It was ordained for the special honor and perpetual worship of the Lord our Maker, immediately upon the Creation of our first Parents, and in their paradisaic state.

WE read of Noah, Gen. 8.10, 12. that he staid yet other seven days, and again he sent forth the Dove out of the Ark. It appears by this, says Bp. Patrick, that on the seventh day Noah expected a Blessing rather than on another day; it being the day devoted from the Beginning to religious services.

II. THE sanctification of the Sabbath was one of the first things given in Commandment to Israel upon their leaving Egypt. God was now gathering and forming to himself a Church in the earth, and it was fitting and necessary to remember them of his Sabbath upon their setting out toward Canaan, the Type of the everlasting Sabbatism. They had it may be almost lost the Remembrance of his Sabbaths in Egypt, at least many of them; but Moses is directed by God to mind them of it, and that not as a novel but an ancient thing. See Exod. 16. It was upon the first provision of Manna for the Camp of Israel: In the 4 and 5 verses of that Chapter, the Lord said to Moses, Behold I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall gather a certain rate every day; but on the sixth day they shall prepare twice as much as on the other days: Accordingly, as we read on from the 22 verse of that Chapter, on the sixth day the people gathered twice as much bread, two Omers for one man; and the Rulers came and told Moses: Then he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, To morrow is the Rest of the Holy Sabbath to the Lord; then ye shall not find it in the field; six days ye shall gather it, but on the seventh day (which is the Sabbath) in it there shall be none: See, for the Lord hath given you the Sabbath; therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days: Abide every man in his place, let no man go out on the Sabbath day. So the people rested on the seventh day.

YOU will easily observe from the whole of this passage, that it supposes the people of Israel acquainted with the Law of the Sabbath. It was not now Instituted, but the Institution was improved and acted on; first by God in his Providence for the magnifying the Day to Israel, a double portion of Manna falling (it is likely) on the sixth day; and then by the People, they gathering thereon the portion of two days.

THIS was before the people's arrival at Sinai, even upon their entering into the Wilderness; and it remained to them thro' it a lasting Sign and Miracle from heaven in honor of the Sabbath day. For if on any other day of the week they left of their manna till the morning it bred worms and stank, but it kept good and sweet when they laid it up for the Sabbath day.

"THUS the Law of the Sabbath was given to Israel before the delivery of the Law from Sinai, and the Day was kept before the Decalogue was given: the Institution was before the Law of Moses.

III. THE Law of the Sabbath was one of the ten Words, the ten Commandments, given from Sinai, in that august and fearful manner as you all know. On Sinai God repeated this his Law out of the midst of the fire. God himself came down that day from Heaven with his mighty Angels; he came down in thick darkness and flames of devouring fire: Sinai was altogether in a smoke and the mountain quaked greatly; the Congregation below were ready to die with fear lest the lightnings should consume them. Who of all flesh, but they in that singular day, ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire and lived? In this manner did the great God give the fourth Commandment unto his Church, that they should remember it and keep it forever, and not dare to forget it. Deu. 4.9, 10. Only take heed to thyself and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thy eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life; especially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their Children. —O that we and our Children may ever remember how, in what majesty and terror, God has commanded us to keep holy the Sabbath day.

I need not add, how that after the great God had spoken this Law from heaven, he also wrote it on a Table of stone, with his own finger, to perpetuate the Remembrance and observation of it; and to imprint it upon the harder hearts and consciences of men: And he only who wrote in the Table of stone, can write it on the fleshly tables of our hearts. And that the whole might be yet more reverend and sanctifying to us, he laid it up within the Holy of Holies, under the Mercy-seat.

Moreover, It pleased the Holy God to enlarge, in many weighty words, on this Law of the Sabbath, when he came down on Sinai. He charged them to remember this Law: he called it the Sabbath of the Lord their God: he told them when, and how, and why he sanctified it. There is something very awful in God's using all these obliging and constraining words. 'Twas a Law worthy to be thus solemnly revived and long insisted on: a very important point for the honor of God and our Salvation. —Wherefore let the Majesty of that Day be evermore in the eyes and ears and hearts of the people of God.—To go on,

IV. THE Law of the Sabbath was repeated and inculcated upon the delivery of the Ceremonial and Judicial Law; yea it was inserted into the latter, as being indeed a line and hedge about all the Statutes and Judgments of God given by the hand of Moses; to keep them all from being broken. For indeed piety and religion, and also justice and righteousness, flourish or decline among the Covenant people of God, as the Sabbath is sanctified or profaned among them. A special honor is put upon the fourth Commandment, and a special reverence to it is required from us, by God's repeating it to his Church on these great Occasions. I will name them distinctly.

1. WE have in my Text and Context the Law of the Sabbath repeated upon the delivery of the Ceremonial Law. God having finished here his Orders and directions to Moses concerning the Tabernacle of the Congregation, the Ark, the Mercy-seat, and all the furniture of the Tabernacle; the Table, the Candlestic, and the Altar of Incense, the Altar of burnt-offering, the Laver and his foot; the Holy Garments, the anointing Oil and the sweet Incense; Then the Lord added,— Speak thou unto the Children of Israel, Verily my Sabbaths you shall keep; it is a sign between me and you thro' out your Generations, &c.

NOW the most learned Expositors upon my Text agree, that this Commandment is here repeated on this Occasion, that so the people of God might not think that

Even that Work of God, of whatever importance, necessity and haste it were, would not warrant them to break the holy Rest of God's Day. Mr. Clark therefore gives the Sense of my text thus, Verily my Sabbaths you shall keep; i. e. It means the work and labor of preparing and rearing the Tabernacle; not the Holy Services of it afterward; for so the Priests profaned the Sabbath and were guiltless; their Labors being in themselves holy, like the work of Ministers on the Lord's days under the Gospel. So God himself has given the distinction between servile and holy work or labors. Lev. 23.25.

BUT the true and great Reason, as it seems to me, why God repeated the Law of his Sabbath unto Israel upon his giving the Ceremonial Law to them, was this— Because the Ceremonial law was originally designed by God, and always subordinated and subservient unto the Sanctification of the Sabbath, in the worship and services of the Tabernacle and Temple. It was eminently instituted for this one end, the solemnizing of the Lord's Sabbaths at the Tabernacle. Then the offerings and sacrifices were doubled, and therefore necessarily the Services of the Priests. These were made for the Sabbath; and therefore no wonder that when these were instituted the Law of the Sabbath was repeated. But then,

2. THE Judicial Law which God gave to Israel by the hand of Moses, had the Law of the Sabbath inserted into it This forensic or judicial Law was for the Civil Government of that People of God, and contained a Body or System of Laws to be observed by the Magistrates and Rulers, for the good order and peaceable and quiet living of the people, in all Godliness and honesty. These Judgments Moses began to set before them, by order from God, presently after the delivery of the moral Law or ten Commandments. You have a great part of them in the 21, 22, and 23. Chapters of Exodus: And at the 12. verse of the 23. Chapter you find an abstract of the fourth Commandment, inserted thus,— Six days shalt thou do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest, that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and that the Son of thy handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed. Here, as I take it, the fourth Commandment was made a Law of the State to Israel, whose Legislature was properly a Theocracy, and their Rulers and Magistrates had the Executive power and trust committed to them. And doubtless God thus honor'd the Law of the Sabbath to Israel his people, by inserting it in the Body of their Judicial Laws, to teach civil Governments to do the like in all parts and ages of the World, to whom the knowledge thereof should come. And accordingly the good Government over us have in their wisdom and piety Enacted the strict Sanctification of the Lord's day, and have forbid the profanation of it under such and such penalties; wherein they have but done the part of a Christian Government.

THUS the sacred Law of sanctifying the Sabbath stands in Scripture as a hedge about the whole Mosaic Law, both Ceremonial and Judicial. For (as One says) where no Conscience is made of keeping the Sabbath, farewell both Godliness and honesty. God in his wisdom and gracious care has therefore set the fourth Commandment (as it were) between the two Tables of the moral Law; and also drawn it (as it were) as a line about all his positive laws, statutes and judgments; that none should break over this and violate them.— But I go on,

V. GOD has from the beginning very dreadfully threatened, and terribly punished the violation of the Sabbath. Laws are of little force without a Penalty, nor that without an Execution. The Threatenings of God, and his Judgments on sinners, are as a flowing sword to guard his Holy Sabbaths from profanation, and to keep men in the way to the tree of life. And here,

• 1. VERY dreadful are the Threatenings of God against those that profane his Holy Sabbaths. In our Context the threatening is, v. 14. Everyone that defileth the Sabbath shall surely be put to death; whosoever doeth any work thereon, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
  This was the penalty then incurred by Sabbath-breakers, and then inflicted by the Lord of the Sabbath.
  How severe a penalty! If any dared openly to profane the Sabbath in Israel, so that the Crime came to the notice of the Judge and were proved upon the offender, "the Magistrate "must cut him off by the sword of Justice: But if the profanation were more hidden and could not be proved upon him, or
  if the Magistrate were remiss and did not do his duty, then God would take the work into his own hand, and cut him off by a stroke from heaven. This the Sabbath breaker might justly fear, and no doubt often suffered.
  But the spiritual Judgment of God and his Eternal punishment of this Sin, is infinitely greater. And if men despise God's Sabbaths, as it provokes him greatly to cut them off from among his people now, so without repentance he will cut them off forever.
• 2. VERY dreadful have the punishments of this Sin been, by the immediate Commandment of God, to Rulers, or by the hand of his Providence.

BY the immediate and direct Command of the High God the first open and presumptuous breaker of the Sabbath was punished with death. You have the melancholy and dismal Story, Num. 15. from the 3 • , to the 36. verse. And while the Children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks on the Sabbath day: and they brought him to Moses and unto Aaron, and all the Congregation: And the Lord said unto Moses, the Man shall be surely put to death; all the Congregation shall stone him with stones without the Camp: And he died, as the Lord commanded Moses. God made him an Example, to deter others for evermore from the like Sin.

BUT then also, God has in his Holy Providence dreadfully judged and punished for the Sin of Sabbath-breaking. How many he cuts off by untimely deaths for this sin we know not; but there is reason to fear they may be many. Read the threatening and warning, Levite, 26.31, 34. I will make your Cities waste and bring your Sanctuaries into desolation, and scatter you among your Enemies; then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths; as long as it lieth desolate it shall rest, because ye did not rest in your Sabbaths when ye dwelt in it. All this was fulfilled in the doleful seventy years Captivity of the Jews in Babylon. Then the Holy Land enjoyed a long and sad rest, without a worshipper or place of worship. See the 2. Chron 36.20, 21. And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and carried away the Remnant to Babylon, to fulfil the Word of the Lord, until the Land enjoyed her Sabbaths. We read also how that when the Jews were returned from Babylon, and again fell into this Sin, Nehemiah told them that the past wrath had been provoked by this, and that more would still be so: Nehem. 13.17, 18. Did not your fathers thus? and did not our God bring all this Evil upon us, and upon this City? Yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath.

BUT this for the fifth head, That from the beginning God did very dreadfully threaten and terribly punish the violation of the Sabbath.

VI. THE holy Prophets of the Lord did in their times vehemently insist on the sanctification of the Lord's Sabbaths; they complained of and declared against the profanation of it, and they made in God's name the most gracious Promises to the people of God in case of their religious Observation thereof. These three things, added unto what I have said before, will give you the whole voice of Scripture thro' the Old Testament of the sanctification of of the Sabbath-day.

1. I say, The Holy Prophets of God did in their times vehemently insist on the keeping God's Sabbaths. I scarce know a stricter precept and fuller direction in this point thro' the whole Book of God, than those words of the Prophet Isaiah, the 58. Chap. and 13. v. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the Holy of the Lord, honorable, and shalt honor him; not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words. Here the Prophet taught the people of God how to Sabbatize, and required them so to keep the Sabbath; and his words are written for our admonition and learning.

• 1. WE must turn away our foot from the Sabbath: from trampling on it, (says a late pious Expositor ) as profane, atheistical people do; from travelling on it, as many worldly men are ready to do; and from those walks and diversions on it, which men of pleasure and license are apt to take.
• 2. WE must not do our own ways, nor find our own pleasure on God's holy day.
  We must not follow our Callings, which is to do our own ways; nor follow our sports and recreations, which is to find our own pleasures.
  Especially we must beware of the defiling and polluting pleasures of sin, which are unlawful on any day.
• 3. WE must not speak our own words: Not give ourselves that liberty of speech on the Sabbath day, which we may lawfully take on other days. Our words must be then guarded, grave, and seasoned with grace. We must speak God's word; speak of Him and of his Works, out of his Word: not talk of our worldly affairs and business as on other days.
• 4. IT must be honorable to us because the holy of the Lord. The holy duties of it should be pleasant and delightful to us. We must honor it as the Lord's day; the day which the Lord has made; made for himself, and sanctified to his honor and service; made sacred to us, and to be spent in holy duties: We will rejoice and be glad in it. Psal. 118.24.

AFTER this manner Isaiah prescribes and requires the keeping a Sabbath: how spiritual and reverend! and thus from one Sabbath to another should all flesh come and worship before the Lord. Isai. 66.23.

LET us pass on to the Prophecies of Jeremiah, and observe how he also insists on the Sanctification of the Sabbath. Jer. 17.20, 22. Hear ye the word of the Lord ye Kings of Judah, and all the Inhabitants of Jerusalem that enter in by these gates; thus saith the Lord, Take heed to yourselves and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the Gates of Jerusalem; neither do ye any work, but hallow the Sabbath day as I commanded your Fathers. This Commandment was to the King and all the people together: The highest and lowest are equally under this Law and must be obedient. And to the Rulers it belongs to see to it that the Sabbath be sanctified by their People.

A like Order both to Prince and peasant, for the religious observation of the Sabbath we have from the pen of the prophet Ezehiel, 46. Chap. 1,2. The Gate of the inner Court that looketh toward the East shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and the Prince shall enter by it,— and the Priest shall prepare his burnt-offering,— and he shall worship at the threshold of the Gate,— and it shall not be shut until the Evening. It is the duty of Princes, and it is the privilege of peasants, to go up to the Sanctuary of God on his Sabbaths, then and there to worship him with holy reverence, as unworthy to tread the threshold of his Gates.

IN this frame and spirit we find Nehemiah, and the Princes, Priests and Levites with him, signing a Covenant to walk in the Laws of God and to keep his Sabbath. Nehem 10.31. We cannot walk in God's laws and not keep his Sabbaths; In our Covenanting with God to walk in his laws, we do in a special manner covenant to keep his Sabbaths. This is a special Article in God's Covenant with his People.

THUS have the Holy prophets insisted on the Observation of the Sabbath in their days and times.

2. THEY complained grievously of the profanation of it. For this they had too often sad occasion. What evil thing is this that ye do? said holy Nehemiah to the people of his day;— Ye profane the Sabbath day. It grieved the good Governor to the heart to see it. He called it a most evil thing. He spake of it with a pious anger and indignation, to see God so dishonored; and with a holy fear of the Consequence of such a provocation. In like manner the Prophets, Ezekiel and Amos. Ezek. 22.8. Thou hast despised my holy things, and hast profaned my Sabbaths. 20.13. My Sabbaths they greatly polluted, then I said I would pour out my fury upon them to consume them. Amos 8.5, 8. Shall not the Land tremble for this? and everyone mourn that dwelleth therein? and will not the end thereof be as a bitter day? — It is a sorrowful and fearful Symptom, when peeople are sick of their Sabbaths; weary of the sacred rest, and tired with the holy work.— But on the contrary, and to add no more,

3. THE Prophets of the Lord have made many great and precious Promises to the people of God, in case of their religious Observation of the Holy Sabbath. The God who has blessed the seventh day and put his Name upon it, will bless all them that keep it holy. Spiritual Blessings are the special and more natural fruit of Sabbath Sanctification; but the outward blessings of Providence are also the reward of it. This is the way to ensure the spiritual and temporal Blessing together. Isai. 56.2. Blessed is the man that doeth this, that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it. This brings a blessing on all our employments, but especially upon our Souls. Here then,

1. THE spiritual Blessing, yea all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, is the promise to the Person that keeps God's Sabbaths. Isai. 56.4, 5, 6. For thus saith the Lord to them that keep my Sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my Covenant; even to them will I give in my House and within my Walls, a place and a name better than of Sons and Daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off:— I will bring them to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt-offerings and their Sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine Altar.

NOTE here, That these three things go together; the religious Observation of the Sabbath, the Choosing the things that please God, and the taking hold of his Covenant. Look where you will and show me one that keeps God's Sabbaths, and you shall find him one that in all other points likewise chooses the things that please him; And such may and will and do lay hold of God's Covenant. It is from a sincere universal desire of pleasing God and glorifying him, that the pious worshippers of God set themselves to observe and keep his Sabbaths. Such have (thro' grace) consented and come up to the Terms of God's Covenant, have taken him for their God, his Word for their Rule, and given themselves up to him, in his holy ways and among his people.

AND now how great and precious are the Promises made here to this holy Sabbatizer? even all the Blessings of the Covenant of Grace are assured to him; present peace and communion with God and supplies of Grace, and the everlasting love and mercies of our Heavenly Father. They have a Name among the Children of God, a Name in the Church on earth, a Name written in Heaven; an everlasting Name that shall not be cut off.— Thus the Spiritual Blessing is the Promise to the person that keeps God's Sabbaths. And then

2. THE Temporal blessing is promised to the People that do this. To prove this I need only turn you again to the 58. Isai. 13, 14. If thou call the Sabbath a delight, &c Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the Heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Here are the temporal Rewards; even riches, honor, power, safety, prosperity and dignity; to the place and people, the Country or Nation, that keep God's Sabbaths.

GOD promised his Israel that he would make them high in Name and honor, if they sought his honor and observed his will; and that their Nei'bours should see him bless them. He promised them to feed 'em, to defend 'em, and to advance 'em. He promised that if they would zealously and religiously keep his appointed Feasts, no man should desire their Land when they went up unto 'em. He also bid them prove him, if he did not open the Heavens over them to pour down Blessings, if they duly regarded his Worship and Sanctuary. And doubtless this will always commend a People to his favor and blessing in the course of his Providence; and he will be their shield and strength, and the lifter up of their head.

IN a Word, We have the promise and the threatening repeated, the Blessing and the Curse; Jer. 17.24, 25, 27. And it shall some to pass if ye diligently hearken to me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden thro' the gates of this City on the Sabbath day; but if ye hallow the same;— then shall there enter still into it Kings and Princes sitting upon the Throne of David, riding in Chariots and on horses; and this City shall remain forever; and burnt-offerings and sacrifices, meat-offerings and Incense of praise, shall still be in the house of the Lord:— But if ye will not hearken unto me, to hallow the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in the Gates of Jerusalem, which shall devour its palaces, (whereof the Temple was a principal one) and it shall not he quenched. —That is to say,

THE religious Sanctification of God's Sabbaths would have been a means of preserving the Royal House of David, and the Holy City of God; But for the profanation of the Sabbath both the one and the other were brought to ruin. The prophet assured them from God, that in case they would keep his Day, He would keep the Court, the City, the Country and the Church, and make all to flourish: But on the contrary, if they went on to profane the Lord's Sabbaths, the Lord would destroy them all together. And so it was: The Enemy prevailed against Jerusalem, and kindled a fire in the Gates of the City, which burnt down the Palace of the King and the Temple of God, and none could quench it.

AND thus I have shewn thro' Moses and the Prophets, how strictly and vehemently the Holy God has required and inculcated the Sanctification of the Sabbath day.

WHICH was the thing to be proved,— Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep. The Instances given, from the precept to Adam unto and by the last of the Prophets, are so many plain and affecting proofs, as well as singular Illustrations, of my Doctrine. The method which I have taken is, I think, the most simple and natural Exposition of what the Scripture has said upon this head, so far as I have gone.— God bless what we have heard for the Increasing in us the Reverence of his Holy Day, the strict Observation of it, and the fear of profaning it. Amen.

Sermon Second.

THE great Law of the Sabbath is here repeated to Moses, and by him unto the Children of Israel with an awful Preface, in a most commanding Manner, and with a most powerful Reason annexed. More Authority and Commandment cannot be well put into fewer words.

THE last time I spake in this place, I proposed to speak to these two Doctrines. I. That the Great GOD has most strictly and vehemently required the Sanctification of the Sabbath day. II. That it is a sign between Him and us that he is the Lord that doth sanctify us.

I could not quite get thro' the first Doctrine on the last Lecture, namely,

I. D. THAT the Lord our God has most strictly and vehemently required us to keep his Sabbaths. Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep. — It was a Law to Man from the beginning of the World, and the first Law that was given to him, even in his state of Innocence. It was one of the first things given in Commandment to Israel upon their leaving Egypt. It was one of the ten Words, the ten Commandments, given from Sinai, in that august and fearful manner. It was repeated and inculcated upon the delivery of the Ceremonial and Judicial Law, and was indeed inserted into the latter. Moreover. God has from the beginning very dreadfully threatened and terribly punished the violation of this Commandment. And by the mouth of all his Holy Prophets he has vehemently insisted on the Sanctification of the Sabbath day, complained of and declared against the profanation of it; and they have made in God's name the most gracious promises to the people of God in case of their religious Observation thereof.— Thus thro' the Scriptures of the Old Testament we find abundant proofs and plain Illustrations of our Doctrine.

I shall continue the proof of this great Truth thro' the Scriptures of the New Testament. The religious and strict Observation of the Lord's day is there also directed to, prescribed and enjoined; but more by the holy practice and example of our Lord Jesus and his Apostles, than by precepts.

THE Law of a Sabbath was nothing peculiar to the Jewish Church. It was before them, even a Law from the beginning of the world, and it continues after them, unto the End of time. There remaineth the keeping of a Sabbath to the people of God, and it will do so while the world lasts. The Law is Moral, and of perpetual Use, universal Obligation. We need the privilege of a Sabbath now, its use and benefit to our Souls; as much as the People of God did heretofore: And we owe this homage, honor and service to God as much now as his People of old did. A weekly Sabbath is a small rent and acknowledgement unto the LORD of our lives, in whose hand all our time is.

LET us look into the holy Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles of Paul, and the Revelations of John, and read the mind of Christ respecting the religious Observation of the Sabbath day. And let us bear in mind that the Practice of Christ and his Apostles is a Law to us in this matter. For (as a late worthy Writer has it)

If then we can find Actions of our Lord Jesus, and of his Apostles after him, equivalent to a verbal Precept, for the Observation of the Christian Shbbath, we must needs account it his Institution and Commandment to us.

IN the blessed Life of our Savior we read once and again of his going into the Synagogues, to attend the public Worship of God on the Sabbath days. Luke 4.6. As his Custom was he went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day. This he did to teach and require us to keep the Sabbath as he did. He has given us this Example that we should follow his steps. So he served and worshipped God, fulfilling all Righteousness, and so must we. He came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfil them. Had he put an end to the Sacred weekly Sabbath, it had destroyed the Law and the Prophets with a witness. But Christ fulfilled this Law, and kept many a Sabbath to the glory of God in a perfect manner, so as no mere man, nor all the Holy men of God together, ever did or can do. He has taught us how to Sabbatise; how to spend our Sabbaths in the solemn Assemblies, and in works of piety and mercy. Many a high Exercise of devotion, and many a good work of charity, did he upon the Sabbath-day. He filled up the Holy time with work, and the work with Spirit. For these very works of God like goodness he was sometimes reproached as a breaker of the Sabbath; but it turned to the confusion of his ignorant and superstitious, if not hypocritical and malicious Accusers. As in Mark 3. Init. He sanctified and honor'd the Sabbath by his divine Sermons, and by his miracles of mercy on that blessed day. He made it a Day of his Blessing to men, both on temporal and spiritual accounts. Luk. 13.10, 17. He kept that blessed Law for his Elect, which Believers themselves keep so poorly and imperfectly.— He also taught his Disciples and followers to observe and keep the Sabbath-day, Indeed some of the superstitious Pharisees did sometimes tax the Disciples with taking undue liberties on the Holy Sabbath. But what was it? they plucked an ear of corn and eat of it as they passed thro' a field. They were hungry and it was but a proper and needed taste, and an ordinary hasty bit, for their support and refreshment in the services of the day. The Women also that followed our Lord Jesus, and ministered unto him, were strict Sabbatizers: Luk. 23. ult. They rested on the Sabbath day according to the Commandment. Tho' they were preparing spices for the dead body of their dear Savior, yet they laid by the holy care and labor of love till the Sabbath was over. Verily God's Sabbaths did they keep; even as if the words of my Text were then in their remembrance, and they considered that as the holy work of the Tabernacle was to give place to the holy Rest of God's day, so their pious ministering to that sacred Temple of the Deity, our Lord's Body. — And that was the last Seventh day Sabbath which the Disciples kept. For early in the morning of the next day, being the first day of the week these Women came unto the Sepulcher, bringing the Spices which they had prepared; and they found not the Body of Jesus, but had a vision of Angels who told them of his resurrection from the dead. — And that same day the Lord himself appeared several times to one and another of his Followers; to Mary Magdalene, to the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, to Simon, and to the ten together in the Evening: when he blessed them, breathed on 'em, and gave them their Commission. That day seven night, being again the first day of the week, the Lord appeared again unto them, Thomas being then present, and shown them his hands and his feet. — Now by the Resurrection of Christ on the first day of the week, and by his repeated visits to them on this day, the Inspired Apostles (under the infallible Conduct of the Holy Ghost ) from thenceforth held their solemn Meetings, their holy Convocations, on this day of the seven, and called it the Lord's-Day. — On this first day of the week, the Disciples were all with one accord in one place, assembled as on their holy Sabbath, when suddenly there appeared the cloven Tongues of fire and sat upon them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost; and spake in every language the wonderful works of God; the proper service of the Sabbath day. That this day of Pentecost was the first day of the week is easily computed and proved. The day after the Passover was the first day of the feast of unleavened bread; (see Lev. 23.5, 6.) which was as a Sabbath to the Jews; They were to have an holy Convocation on it, and to do no servile work thereon. On the next day was the Offering of the first-fruits unto the Lord: And from this day, (the next but one after the Passover ) they were ordered to count fifty days, or seven weeks complete; and then was the feast of Pentecost, so called from the fiftieth day. Now see how these things were all fulfilled in the Dying and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus, and in the pouring out of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. — Our blessed Lord Jesus was slain at the Passover, which fell that year on a fryday: Then was the Lamb of God offered, Christ our Passover sacrificed for us. — That Evening therefore was the preparation, as it is called John 19.31. scil. the preparation both for the weekly Sabbath, and also for the Feast of unleavened bread; which made that Sabbath a high day. The Jews therefore were earnest with Pilate to have the Bodies taken down early from the Cross. This whole Sabbath our Lord's Body lay in the grave. And the next morning early, being the first day of the week, the next day but one after the Passover, the day of the offering of the first-fruits unto the Lord, he rose from the dead, and became the first-fruits of them that sleep. Now compute just seven weeks from this day of our Lord's Resurrection, and the first day of the eighth week, even the fiftieth day, was the day of Pentecost; when the Spirit, (the promise of the Father) was poured out from the ascended Jesus upon his Apostles, as they were assembled together for his solemn Worship.

Thus did our Lord Jesus honor and hallow the first day of the week by giving the Sanctifier and the Comforter thereon. So did he shed Him forth in his miraculous Gifts and in his saving Graces, abundantly on that day. He poured out the Blessing from on high, and blessed the Day, to be an holy Sabbath unto Himself; and unto us, the day for our "seeking and receiving spiritual blessings. Such Actions (says One ) do as fully declare and express the mind and will of Heaven as any words could do— Especially if we find (as we do) in the sacred Writings, that the Apostles and primitive Christians did thenceforth observe the first day of the week for their religious Assemblies, and for the Administration of the special Ordinances of Christ thereon. And this we do expressly read, that they did come together on the first day of the week to break bread, and that Paul preached to them. Act. 20.7. They were wont to come together to hear and to receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, on that day. It is spoken of as their usual practice, and they were "under the infallible Direction of the Holy Ghost in Actions of this nature and importance. So that their Example and practice herein must amount to a Law and Institution to the Christian Church; interpreting to us the mind and giving us the will of Christ in this matter. And to borrow the words of a late Writer, — Moreover you know, how that the Apostle Paul directed the Church of Corinth, and the Churches of Galatia, to have their Collections for the Saints on the first day of the week; So (says he) I have given order, and so do ye: Upon the first day of the week let everyone lay by him in store, as God has prospered him. 1 Cor. 16.1, 2. — Some have observed, and the remark is of great weight, A day sacred in the Apostles times for Holy fellowship and communion, for breaking of bread and for prayers, and for works of piety and charity; for the public testimony of their faith in Christ and love to all his Saints.— To add no more, They called it the Lord's-day; and on it the beloved Disciple had his Vision of Christ, one like the son of man amidst the seven golden Candlesticks. Rev. 1.10. I was in the Spirit (in a spiritual Extasie or Rapture) on the Lord's day. Whose day? but the Lord Jesus, whose Revelations he now received. And assign a reason, if you can, for another day of the week, to be called his, besides the first, whereon he rose from the dead. Both the one and other are instituted, separated and appropriated unto his worship, and the religious remembrance of Himself.— The Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath, Lord of our time and lives. He has power to change the day. And there is the same reason why it should please the Lord Redeemer to take the first day of the week for his own day, and make it the weekly Sabbath to the Church, upon his Resurrection thereon from the dead; as there was why the Lord Creator pleased to bless the seventh day, and the seventh part of time, because he rested from his work of Creation after six days. For the work of man's Redemption is a work of God equally glorious with that of his Creation, and so equally worthy of a sacred, instituted, perpetual Memorial. And the resurrection of Christ was really his resting from his work of our redemption, having completed it in his death. Nor does the change of the day of the week in the least take away from the Memorial of the Work of Creation every Sabbath day; for the seventh part of time is yet sacredly observed in Commemoration thereof.— Upon all therefore, We have now the same Reasons for our religious Observation of the first day of the week, that the Church of old had for their keeping holy the seventh day. The reasons to them were, God's special propriety in the seventh day, his own Example and resting thereon, and his blessing it. And for these reasons we keep the first day of the week holy to Christ, because of his special propriety therein, (his resting on it, and taking it for his own) his own Example and his blessing it. On every Account it is the Lord's day, the Christian Sabbath.— Jesus has given us this Rest, upon his ceasing from his redeeming work as God did from his of Creation; and upon his entering into his rest. There remaineth therefore a Rest to the people of God; a spiritual rest in Christ, and the keeping of a weekly Sabbath to him.

AND thus I have briefly traced thro' the Scriptures of the New Testament, some of the things occurring there, for our keeping holy the Sabbath-day. — And so I dismiss the first part of my Text, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep. — I come now to the Reason annexed, which is the other part, For it is a Sign between me and you throughout your Generations, that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.

2. D. THAT the Lord's-day, or weekly Sabbath, is a Sign between God and us, that he is the Lord our Sanctifier.

IT is great Condescention and Grace in God to us, to annex a reason unto any of his Commandments. His Sovereign will is the highest reason.— Yet is there much of Majesty and much Grace in this Reason, It is a Sign between me and you. And will God in very deed give us such a Sign and Token between Himself and us? will he in very deed deal so with Man upon the Earth? And give a standing Sign too, throughout all the Generations of men on earth? O the favor and Grace to dust and ashes! while He humbleth himself to behold the things that are above!

BUT what is the Lord's Sabbaths a Sign of thro' all the Generations of men? Why they signify and let us know, 1. That he is the Lord and our Lord: Lord of the world, and Lord of our time and lives. The great Proprietor and absolute Disposer of them. 2. That he is the Lord our Sanctifier. This is that Glory wherein he delights to appear unto his Creatures, and for which to be adored by them. So the Seraphims worship him above, and cover their faces, crying, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts. And so we worship the Lord in the Beauties of Holiness on earth; His Sabbaths being unto us the sign, and his Ordinances the blessed means of holiness and Sanctification.

THE Lord our Sanctifier. It speaks the utmost favor, grace and mercy to us, and the utmost holiness in the Lord our God. He is the Sanctifier of all whom he saves. His Elect are chosen unto Salvation thro' sanctification of the Spirit. And he has appointed his Holy Sabbath and all the Ordinances of his worship, under the blessing of his Spirit, to be the season and means of the Regeneration and Sanctification of souls, and of their growth and increase in Holiness.

GOD's Sabbaths were from the beginning of the world given for a Sign and a Memorial. They are a Sign that in six days the Lord made Heaven and earth — Our Lord's days are now a Sign of the Resurrection of Christ from the dead. And in short, both the Jewish and Christian Sabbath are a Sign to fallen man, of a Covenant of Grace and Salvation granted to him thro' Jesus Christ; the promised seed of the Woman, but the Only Begotten of the Eternal Father.

TO be sure, The Observation of a weekly Sabbath is a very public and open thing; a thing of much Solemnity and Significancy. It is a perpetual and universal Memorial of something very great and important between God and man.— Every child is ready to ask, What meaneth this Service? what signifies such a weekly Solemnity? —God answers in my Text, It is a sign between Me and you. Surely then a sign of something very great and good on God's part, and worthy of his blessed and glorious Name, and of something very good and great, beneficial and necessary to us! Yes truly: the work and grace is great on God's part, to be our Sanctifier! the benefit and mercy vast to us, our Sanctification! — This, this is signified by the weekly Sabbath. What more worthy of the Holy God? what more important to polluted, guilty and perishing Sinners? Of his mercy he thus saves us.

THE Text speaks plainly of two things,

• 1. Of a Covenant between God and fallen man: It is a Sign between me and you thro' out your Generations.
• 2. Of a Covenant of holiness, or of our Salvation in a way of Sanctification; that I am the Lord that sanctifieth you. Therefore these two things lie before me,
  • 1. To show that the Lord's Sabbaths continued to fallen man, are a sign and token of the Covenant of Grace made with him thro' Jesus Christ.
  • 2. It is a sign and token of Christ's saving us in the way of Holiness or Sanctification.

1. THE Lord's Sabbaths continued to fallen man, are a sign and token of the Covenant of Grace made with him in Jesus Christ. It is a sign between 〈◊〉 and you. Here is something mutual between 〈◊〉 parties, God and man; significant of great grace and favor to man on the part of God, and of special and holy bonds and duty to God on the part of man; Now what can this be but a faderal and Covenant stipulation? and what can it be referred unto, but only the Covenant of Grace and Salvation by Jesus Christ? Assign something else if you can.

INDEED the Sabbath was given and instituted to Man in his State of Innocence, and that even before the Covenant of works was given unto Adam. But Man having sinned and broken the first Covenant, had forfeited and lost the Privilege and honor of a Sabbath. There remained no room or place for any Sabbath to him till it was restored in the Covenant of Grace. — But as it pleased God, according to his Eternal Counsel and purpose, immediately to reveal unto fallen man hss Covenant of Grace and Salvation, thro' Jesus Christ the promised Seed of the Woman; So the Law of the Sabbath did naturally and in course revive and take place again.— For it is nothing peculiar either to the Covenant of Grace, or to the Covenant of works, that there should be a Sabbath; but it must needs be common to either, that there be some appointed time sacred unto the public and solemn worship of God.— IF then God pleased to give a new Covenant to Man after his fall, it must needs bring him a new Right and liberty to worship God; and consequently must revive the Privilege and Law of a Sabbath to him.— And other Foundation can no man lay, for this privilege and liberty of Worship, than this which is laid, Jesus Christ, and the Covenant of Grace in and thro' him. It is truly one of the Benefits of Redemption, and a great and necessary one. It is the Gift of Grace by Jesus Christ; it is the purchase of his Death, and the fruit of his Resurrection, that there remaineth the keeping of a Sabbath to the Children of fallen Adam. — This is a Benefit of the New Covenant, without which there had remained no place for prayer, praise or worship to fallen man; and consequently no day sacred to these Duties.

HENCE the Sabbath is said to be given for a Covenant, and to be observed as such; and the ten Commandments are called God's Covenant: Deu. 4.13. He declared unto you his Covenant; even ten Commandments. But it is the fourth Commandment which stands peculiarly as the most visible token of the Covenant of God; according to the 16. v. of our Context, Ye shall observe the Sabbath for a perpetual Covenant. And Ezek. 20.20. It is a sign between me and you, that I am the Lord your God. — Every Sabbath day we do publicly and solemnly confess and avouch the Lord Jehovah to be the true God, and God alone, and that he is our God and Redeemer, and that we are his people and worshippers, and will be devoted to him forever. These two things are therefore put together by the Holy Ghost, Isa. 56.4, 6. The keeping God's Sabbaths, the taking hold of his Covenant, and the joining ourselves unto the Lord. — We keep God's Sabbaths as a sign of our faith in and devotion to the God of Israel, as the great Creator and High Possessor of heaven and earth. According to what we read in my Context, v. 17. It is sign between Me and the Children of Israel forever, that in six days the Lord made all things, and in the seventh he rested and was refreshed. — Again, We covenant with God thro' Christ, as the Lord our Redeemer, in our keeping his Sabbaths. It was to the Church of Israel, and is to the Christian Church, a Memorial of redeeming Grace and Mercy. When God had redeemed Israel out of Egypt, he then said to them, Deut. 5.15. Remember that thou wast a Servant there, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence with a strong hand and by a stretched out arm; Therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day. Here was a super-added and special reason to Israel for their religious observation of the Sabbath. Some learned men have argued and insisted on it, that the seventh day from the Overthrow of Pharaoh at the Red Sea was the Jewish Sabbath. And if it were so yet might it be the seventh day from the Creation also. But to be sure, in memory of this their Redemption, as well as of the World's Creation, they were to keep their Sabbaths.— Now this seems to me a plain Prefiguration of our Christian Sabbath, in memory of Christ's finishing the work of our Redemption. For if the Sabbath was unto the Jews a sign of their Covenant relation and obligations to God as their Savior and Redeemer; is it not more so unto us under the Gospel, and from the day of the completion of the Spiritual and Eternal Redemption by the Son of God? If that deliverance which was but the Type came into a constant Remembrance, and was a standing reason of the weekly Sabbath till the Resurrection of Christ; shall not the Eternal Redemption by Him, which is the Substance, be had in a perpetual Remembrance by us upon the weekly Sabbath; and be a special reason to us for our Sanctifying the same?— Wherefore no doubt but from the fall of Man unto the End of the world, the Sabbath has been ordained, and by the worshippers of God ought to be observed, in memory of Man's Redemption as well as of his Creation, and to the honor of God our Redeemer as well as Creator; and so we keep it, as a redeemed people, bought with his Blood; and every Lord's-day we covenant anew with our Savior, to glorify him in our bodies and spirits which are his.— The Covenant stands forever, because the Redeemer liveth, therefore the Sabbath abides: The Covenant of his peace is not removed, and the God of the whole Earth is he called, who is the Holy One of Israel, the Redeemer.— God openly and significantly covenants with his Church and people every Sabbath day. He meets them to bless 'em, as they assemble to worship him. He gives a name and place within his walls, even an everlasting name. He does this (says the Prophet ) Isa. 56.6. while we join ourselves unto him, to serve him and to love his Name. — Wherefore God owns his people, as well as they him, every Lord's-day. He meets them in his own appointed time and ways. He seals to his Covenant, and shows it to them, and his secret is with them while they keep his Sabbath.— The risen Savior visits his assembled Disciples from week to week, and is still in the midst of them, and says, peace be unto you; yea and shows them his hands and his feet when they come together to break bread. — Thus the Sabbath is the abiding and conspicuous Sign of a Church state; and it is for Stipulation and mutual Covenanting between God and his people.— It is a sign between Me and you.

2. It is an evident token, and blessed means, of Man's Salvation in a way of holiness and sanctification. That I am the Lord that sanctifieth you. A parallel place we have, Ezek. 20.12. Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths to be a Sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify them. — This, this is at last the thing signified, the thing covenanted. God covenants with his people to be their Sanctifier in their observation of his Sabbaths; they covenant to be holy to him and to seek his sanctifying grace, and live as his sanctified Ones.

GOD's Sabbaths were to the Jews a sign of his selecting them from other people and consecrating them unto himself, his worship and service; to be unto him as a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. If he had not so set 'em apart for himself, he would not have revealed to them his Sabbaths, to set up his Worship among them: And they that worship him must be sanctified, must sanctify themselves hereunto.

MOREOVER, The Observation of the Sabbath ever was, is and will be, a special means of the Sanctification of God's Elect. He sanctifies them by his Spirit in his Word and Ordinances, the Means of grace and holiness, wherein his Sabbaths are sanctified, and wherein his people apply to him as their Sanctifier. If we keep God's days, they will be the means of our sanctification. It is a sign that God has sanctified us if we love his Sabbaths; and to keep them is the grand means of our increase in holiness.

THUS the Holy Sabbaths of God do exhibit him unto us, not only as the Lord our Creator and Redeemer, but also as the Lord our Sanctifier. Not only is the Sabbath ordained to serve unto the honor and worship of God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth; and of Jesus Christ his only Son our Savior, but also of the Holy Ghost (proceeding from the Father and the Son) our Sanctifier.

SANCTIFICATION is the special work of the Holy and Eternal Spirit of God. In remembrance of his glorious descent from the Ascended Savior we keep our Lord's days. He is in his Word and Ordinances, the which he has inspired and instituted, and makes them the effectual means of holiness unto all sincere and fervent Worshippers.

HE is himself the Holy One, infinitely holy. He would have us holy. He only can make us so. His Sabbaths and worship are holy, and sanctifying to us. We wait on him in them for his sanctifying influences and Operations. He blesses his Sabbaths and Institutions for this end. He sanctifies his Elect thro' his Truth, his Word is the Truth. We acknowledge him as the Lord our Sanctifier, apply to him and glorify him as such, in the way of Sabbath Sanctification. And they that do so, find him to be their Sanctifier. His Sabbaths are under his blessing the special means of that little Holiness that is in the world. Not only is the form of Godliness kept up in the world by the keeping the Sabbath day, but also that power of Godliness which is, or ever has been, in the Church of God, is owing hereunto. In this way Sinners must seek after Sanctification, and in this way they experience and find it. As it is written in the Psalm or Song for the Sabbath-day; Ps. 92.13. They that be planted in the house of the Lord, shall flourish in the Courts of our God; to show that▪ the Lord is upright;— A God faithful to his Covenant and true to his Institutions, to own and bless them.

AND thus I have offered some hints toward the explaining my Text, How the Sabbaths of God are a sign between Him and his people, that he is the Lord that doth sanctify them.

NOW the Argument from all is, That verily his Sabbaths we must keep. And you may easily perceive a variety of Argument, cogent and very weighty, in what has been said.— The Lord's day is unto us the primary, perpetual and universal Memorial of the Covenant of Grace, which God has made with fallen man; and shall we not thankfully and religiously celebrate the Memorial of this Grace of God unto us?— It is the badge and livery of our being the Covenant People of God; our public and solemn Confession of the Lord Jehovah, Father Son and Holy Ghost, our glorious Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier.— It is the great and solemn Profession of our Faith in, our devotion unto, and our covenanting with, the most High God, Possessor of heaven and earth.— It is the instituted Means to us of Grace here and Glory forever; of present Communion with God and of seeing him hereafter; of his having any service and glory from us in this world, and of our finding blessedness in him in that which is to come.

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