The Practical Sabbatarian

CHAP. I. An Introduction to the Text.

I N this Chapter we have God unmasking and reproving the Jews 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 Jews should return from the Captivity, their Chains should be knockit off, and their Captivity should be turned as Rivers in the South, as the Psalmist speaks; but as for the wicked, no peace should be 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 Days, 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 lie •• , unravels their folly, and discovers their vanity; Alas, it is not the outward Worship, or the external attendance on an Ordinance, can either pacify the anger, or procure the favor 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 hypocrisy, only 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 God's fury by an over-plus of Service, when by these smooth pretences they only brought Oil 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 days, 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:

[unspec 1] An Eminent Duty enjoined. Duties they are the Cords of a man, to use the Prophets Phrase, by which we are sweetly drawn nearer to God, they are our Travel towards Canaan: While we are in a way of duty, we are in our way to the Kingdom. Holy Duties are our spiritual intercourse, our traffic with Heaven: and such a duty is enjoined in the Text.

[unspec 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 Noah's Dove with the 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 itself, 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 Honor. The Sabbath is God's 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 ways, 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 Lord's Day.

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

[unspec 1] ACcording to the Text, we must abstain ab actionibus civilibus, from Civil Actions, from the works of our 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 employments on this Holy Day; not any work must be done, saith God in the fourth Commandment, a Commandment in which we may truly-say, digitus Dei, the Finger of God. We must not mingle the Week with the Sabbath. Oecolampadius well descants on this phrase in 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 sanctify 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 defense 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 spoil together, they did rest upon the Sabbath, and praised God for the Victory; and after the Sabbath was past, then they took order for the dividing of the spoil. Indeed should we labor upon the Sabbath day, this would breed confusion, and confound God's day with ours: we labor six days, and should we labor 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 labor with our hands, but with our hearts, and not seek the gains of the Earth, but the Kingdom of Heaven; we must not then follow our Callings, but our Christ. Mary Magdalene, and Mary the Mother of James, would not prepare odors to annoin • Christ's 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 leisure 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, ut melius intendamus, we must have our repose, that we may the better intend the great work of our souls; and therefore not only 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.

[unspec 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 seed, Exod. 16. 31. but Manna which is the seed of the Word, which is able to save our souls.

[unspec 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) 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.

[unspec 3] In Jer. 17. 22. There must be no carriage of burdens 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 me for the strengthening of my soul. The Sabbath is not the bodies Term, but the souls holy Vacation, it's consecrated leisure to look after its blessedness.

[unspec 4] No not in harvest • ime must we labor on a Sabbath, when Nature itself would go a gleaning, and be busy with Joseph to bring the grain into the storehouse; and although 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 God's positive Law gives no dispensation.

[unspec 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 Zion: thus God expressly, Exod. 16. 29. [Obj.] And as for the Objection of a Sabbath days journey, Acts 1. 12.

[Sol.] To that it may be replied, That the Text answers itself; 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 judgment 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 notes, That all the Hebrews, whose testimony is most authentical in this case, make a Sabbath days journey only one mile. Josephus, who was very well acquainted with the 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 hindrance of the ordinary exercises of this day, or without wearisomeness either to body or mind, whereby he should be unfitter for the Lord's Worship, or his own Duties.

[unspec 6] Not so much as to build God's 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 God's 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 satisfy 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. [unspec 1] Is not this to impeach the wisdom of the Law-giver, 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 Ox and the Ass; and the poor man's case should not have been left out, had divine wisdom thought a dispensation necessary; he should have been left to his work, as well as the stranger left to his rest.

[unspec 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 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 which the Psalmist fully accords, Psal. 19. 11. The best way to sill thy Cruse, is to fulfill God's Commands. Godliness hath the promise of the things of this life.

[unspec 3] To disobey the Command in working on a Sabbath, is the only method to drive thee to greater exigence. Disobedience, like intemperance, shall clothe thee with rags: Prophanation 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 man, Prov. 24. 20. To rob God of his time is such a piece of sacrilege, as will assuredly fill thy bags with holes, which will hold no wages.

[unspec 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 only 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 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?

[unspec 5] The just man lives by faith, whether he be rich or poor: and surely that faith runs dregs which will not trust God 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 thou not know the Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof? Psal. 24. 1. And cannot he furnish thy Table for a Sabbath thou hast spent with him?

[unspec 6] And will thy poor Earnings on a Sabbath compensate the prejudice thy soul endures? Whilst thou hast been laboring for • he meat that perisheth, thou mightest have gained that 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 Toulouse, 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 shoes; a little to invert the Prophet.

[unspec 7] And Reverend Mr. Calvin observes, This is only a wile of Satan, for saith he, All of us naturally are of that mind, that if we endeavor to mount on high to the heavenly life, and bestow our studies therein, we think we shall die for hunger, and this shall be to turn us from our Profits and Commodities: And indeed the Devil cometh always to persuade us under this shadow and wiliness, that if we employ ourselves in the service of God, we must needs die 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 distrustful cares, which press us over much. And how doth this unholy distrust, which often draws the offender 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 straitened to believers under the Gospel. And so we have at last done with the poor man's 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 toil, is a practice so manifestly sinful, 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, in the times of the Gospel. Constantine the great (who deserved that noble Title, more for his Religion, then his Victories) sets out a pious Edict to this purpose, strictly forbidding all secular labor on the Lord's day. The very words of the Statute are these; He commands that everyone who lived in the Roman Empire should rest from labor that day weekly, which was instituted to our Savior; and moreover, that all Judges, Citizens, Artificers, should rest on the Sabbath. Thus this holy Emperor, who first brought rest to the Churches, for a long time scorched with persecution, and discomposed by Pagan fury, takes care that the Sabbath be not profaned 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 Lord's 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 Emperor of Constantinople, in his pious Edict for the better observation the Lord's 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 labor, 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; only let me not denude our own English Princes of their just and due Honor in this particular. King James of famous memory, at his first entrance into his Kingdom, 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 first Parliament, That there be no Pastimes, no Carrier, Waggoner, Drover, travel on the Lord's day, no Butcher kill or sell any Victual on the said day, &c. Thus the English Throne hath not been devoid of necessary Zeal, for the suppression of unnecessary toil on the Lord's day.

And laboring on the Lord's day hath not only 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, Zerubbabel's, who have been famous in building the Temple in the primitive times. Origen thus expresses his holy fervor for the Sabbath, and for the cessation from 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 employ thyself in spiritual negotiations, this is the right observation of the Christian Sabbath. Thus this mirror 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 Lord's days, 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. Chrysostom calls the abstinence from worldly affairs on the Sabbath, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , an immovable Law, such a Law as nothing but Sacrilege and Irreligion can shake or suppress; we must on this day 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , abstain from all works, saith that golden mouthed Father. And if we come to the middle 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 Savior's Resurrection, therefore it ought diligently to be observed by every Christian, no manner of public work to be done upon it. And the same Author tells us a story of a fearful judgment of Lightning which befell the City of Limoges, ob diei dominici injuriam, for profaning the Lord's day. And another Gregory of a far greater fame, (viz.) Gregory the Great, speaks the same language, (Viz.) We ought to rest on the Lord's day from earthly labors, and altogether give ourselves to prayer. And if we slide down to our days, and the days of reformation, servile works on the Sabbath incur the same censure. If we call in the Testimony of foreign Divines: Doctor Ames, that pious and learned Divine observes, That all servile works were to be abstained from in other festivals among the Jews, Lev. 23. 7, 8. Numb. 28. 25. Multo magis exclusa fuerunt à Sabbatho, Much more on the sacred Sabbath. Other foreign Testimonies might be subpaena'd in, to give witness in this Cause; but the Reader shall not be cloyed with a multiplicity of Quotations. Only as foreigners, So our own Divines give in their suffrage to the same truth. Famous Hooper, Bishop and Martyr, thus declares himself; To that end did God sanctify 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, honor him, and fear him, &c. And holy Babington most pathetically; Even as 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.

[unspec 2] Not only the Church distributive, but the Church collective condemns laboring on the Lord's day: Many famous Councils have decried and prohibited this uncomely 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 or works of Husbandry on the Lord's day, but exercise himself in Hymns and singing praises unto God, being intent thereon hath 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 human Tribunal.

Nay, the great taking argument of Reason, the Idol and Diana of most men, joins in the Verdict, for the guiltiness and condemnation of labors and working in our Callings on the Lord's day.

Servile and secular labors are too pedantic and low for 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 Lord's day a packing day for earth, and make it a custom to have their Servants follow their Callings; but these men act as Heathens, who never knew anything of the Creation of Heaven and Earth by God, nor never heard anything of the Redemption of man by Christ, nor ever tasted anything of the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost.

[Reas. 2] Worldly labors they tend nothing at all to the worship of God, they are only sinful and unseasonable divertisements. Can we be intent on the works of our Calling, and yet at the same time our heads filled 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 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 Farms and the Supper too, and therefore they must be excused from the one. Such men who work on the Lord's day (a holy man saith) their hearts are possessed with covetousness, their minds are filled with the affairs of the world; and what shall God have if their hearts and their minds are alienated to another purpose? Augustine saith, We are commanded to rest upon the Lord's day from earthly business, and he gives us this reason, That we might be the more fit for God's service. And so 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 ourselves in his Holy Word. Now secular affairs 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 only 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, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which signifies quietness, and rest, a cessation from labor; it is nothing more then a denial of toil: so that when we labor on the Sabbath, we do but rough this calm and quiet day, which is given us to hear God's 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 mere Hebraism, when Sabbath and Rest are the same thing, and in the Original the word is only repeated, for it is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 And as in the building of the Temple of the Lord, so in the keeping of the Sabbath of the Lord, there must be no hammer heard, no axe, no noise of working instruments, or secular employments.

4. Labouring in our callings on a Sabbath, doth not only deny the name of the Sabbath, but subverts the manner of its observation, which is by sanctifying it: The Sabbath must be kept holy, so in the forementioned place, Exod. 35. 2. so in the fourth Commandment, Exod. 20. 8. Now 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Cadash, sanctify, a word used in both these Texts, and many other places, it signifies the separation of anything to a holy use. So the first born among the Israelites were sanctified to God, the same word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 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 sense. 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 God's Worship. So then working on the Sabbath overthrows this 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Cadash, this sanctifying it, it diverts that day to our own use, which is sanctified, separated only 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 sacrilege; Labouring casts 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Cadash, sanctify, out of the fourth Commandment, and alters the will of the great Legislator, it lays waste, and makes common the holy day which God hath limited and enclosed to an holy use.

[unspec 5] And it is remarkable, that the observation of the Sabbath is never urged by Moses or the Prophets, but rest and 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 enjoined, 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 itself. If you will keep a Sabbath, keep it free from worldly labors, or never set upon the observation of it.

[unspec 6] Rest is as necessary for us, as for former times, for the holy sanctification of the Sabbath; our bodies are subject to 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 labors? 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 disenabled 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 grateful to us, as others in the elder days of the world. Shall the Jews 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 labors to attend on the Divine Services of the Sabbath.

[unspec 7] The main ground of God's 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 labors and business this day. A Quietus est first started the Law itself, and a Quietus est must keep the Law now settled and established.

[unspec 8] Rest from our labors 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 labors into soft loves, and glorious rewards; and therefore Lazarus lies in Abraham's 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 only destroy the Observation of it, which is to be with no manner of work, but the very significancy of it. Working on this day eclipses the Sabbath, as it is our earnest of a better rest, and undervalues this noble end of a Sabbath, finis sublimior, as some call it, to represent the perpetual sabbatism the Saints shall enjoy in a better place and state.

[unspec 9] Let us consider the equitableness of man's resting from worldly labors on the Lord's day. Shall Man, that frail piece of dust, be like a Salamander, always in the fire of toil and painfulness? Shall there be no time for him to interferiate and feast with God, and consecrate himself to holy observances? God was refreshed on the Sabbath (as was hinted before) and shall trembling flesh have no leisure 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 of the Ox, 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 labor 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 neighbors house on fire, is our proper work on the Lord's day; to stop inundations of waters, which else would break forth to the prejudice of the adjacent parts, this is not to defile, but to honor a • abbath. Paul on the Sabbath day uses means to recover Lutichus, who was dead for the present. The Jews 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. Jericho is encompassed seven days, and taken the seventh, probably the Sabbath, Josh. 6. 20. which was no blemish to Israel's Victory, but an inhancement to the praise of Israel's God. Works of necessity they do sweeten, they do not soil a Sabbath; they show the love of God, they do not break the law of God. It no ways hinders my Soul from being put in joint upon the Lord's day, because my leg is put in joint, which was broken by a sad and afflictive providence. And works of necessity are secured from Sabbath-profanation, by a four-fold warrant and dispensation.

[unspec 1] Our Savior's holy example signs this dispensation, He wrought his cures on the Sabbath for the most part, Mat. 12. 13. and many other places. The wound should not bleed to death, because our Savior 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.

[unspec 2] The necessities of the Disciples being gratified, were no blemish to the holiness of the Sabbath; upon that day they plucked the ears 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 spilled. Our bodies must be indulged, or our souls will be uncapable of services, or ordinances. Faint bodies are listless to lively duties.

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

[unspec 1] The first Argument is a majori from the stronger and more forcible inference, which argument we find, Luke 13. 15. where our Savior urges most sweetly and wisely, that if we can secure and take care of the beast on the Sabbath, man should not in his necessity be neglected on that holy day. Man is not only more worth then many Sparrows, Mat. 10. 31. but then many Oxen or Asses, or more valuable Cattle. If the beast must be plucked out of the ditch on a Sabbath, shall the plucking of a man from the jaws 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.

[unspec 2] The second Argument is a meliori, from the better, which we find, Mark 3. 4. where our Savior sharply expostulates, 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 encroaching 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 itself be unlawful; it is an obedience to the law of Nature, a compliance with those 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , common principles which are concreated with us. Therefore such actions cannot pollute the holy Sabbath, or defloure the purity of it.

[unspec 3] The third Argument our Savior 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. 3, 4. Our Savior tells us, what David did in case of necessity: It was far more eligible for David to make bold with the show-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 only 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.

[unspec 4] The light of Nature warrants a discharge, and gives in not guilty to works of necessity on the Sabbath. If my wound 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 error, 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 cheerfulness and alacrity, which cannot be with an undrest wound, or a disease not to be looked after, because it is the Sabbath. I cannot cheerfully join 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 God's holy day will not permit it. Cases therefore of indispensible necessity neither pollute nor profane 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 labored with his hands, but yet his works on the Lord's day were Sacred and Divine, nothing but preaching the Word, administering 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 heart works, not his hands. In a word, this particular shall be shut up with the confession of learned Master Breerwood, 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 Lord's day abandon all worldly affairs, and dedicate it wholly to the honor of God. And one of our Church Homilies hath these words, God's obedient people should use the Sunday holily, and give themselves wholly to heavenly exercises of God's true Religion, and Service; and this was the practice of all God's people in all ages: And so much for this large particular.

[unspec 2] But secondly, there are a second sort of actions we must forbear on the Lord's day, (viz.) Sensual actions, so the 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 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 God's house. 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. 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 music, the Sanctuary our parlor and place of repast, and our festivity must be joy in the Lord; our ear 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 Jews had only the usual 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 rejoicing, 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. Chrysostom 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, and so celebrated the Lord's Supper together, which done, they presently fell to the spare and slender cheer, 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 morning Sun of the Gospel were contented with spare and slender diet. St. Augustine observed a vanity among the Jews, in his time, that they feasted much on the Sabbath, and therefore advises us To observe the Sabbath, not as the Jews did, carnally, and with fleshly delicacies. And holy Ignatius, before him, much to the same purpose cries out, We Christians must not keep our holy Sabbath after the manner of the profane Jews, with excessive feastings, &c. But it is much to be feared, that Jews 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 God's 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 profanation of it. This over-plus of food and fare, gives the Soul a writ of ease, and makes the body slothful and drowsy, and so renders the ordinances and duties sapless and ineffectual; and if God reveals himself to them, it must be in dreams, for the stretched and pampered body is fit for little else.

[unspec 3] There is a third sort of actions we must abstain from on the Sabbath, (viz.) sinful actions; so the Text, [Not doing thy own ways] 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 Egg, 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 God's holy day? this is to turn the heaven of a Sabbath into an bell. It is a remarkable Speech of Bishop Andrew's; 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 Plays and Sights, to 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 surfeiting, in Chambering and Wantonness, this is the Sabbath of Satan, the Devils holy day. All 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 offense 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 profaneness?

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

[unspec 4] THere are another sort of actions we must abstain from upon the Sabbath, (viz.) Recreative Actions; so the Text, [Not finding thy own pleasure] Recreations on a Sabbath, are blown up into profaneness. Those delights which in the week are commendable, on the Sabbath are intolerable. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 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 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 was a good saying of Isidore Hispalensis, The Apostles (saith he) therefore ordained the Lord's day to be kept with Religious Solemnity, because in it our Redeemer rose from the dead, which was therefore called the Lord's day, that resting on the same from all earthly acts, and the temptations of the World, we might intend God's holy worship, giving this day due honor, 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 man's Ewe-Lamb be taken? that little spot of time God gives us more immediately for our spiritual interest, must that be prostituted to gratify the softness of the flesh? The Council of Carthage petitioned the Emperor Theodosius the younger, that the shows of the Theatre and other Plays, then used on the Lord's day might be removed, which accordingly was granted by his Edict; and it was Enacted, Anno Dom. 415. That on the Lord's day the Cirques and Theatres in all places should be shut up, and people denied 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 God's holy day; and indeed how irrational is this, that man's 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 burden may be lightened? 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 judgments, a famine of the Word, nay, such a sin as will shake a Land, and make it tremble. Learned Zanchi hath an excellent Speech; Our Plays 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 Ordinance, and a spiritual Recreation. Christ is an enclosed Garden, Cant. 4. 12. And can we complain of the want of delight, who have such a Garden to walk in? Sensual pastimes, for the most part, they are useless impertinencies, the Parenthesis of man's life; but on the Lord's day these are unjustifiable vanities, and let Reason bring in its suffrage to condemn these unseasonable Sports and Recreations.

[unspec 1] Recreations on a Sabbath they are impediments to duty. The Bishop of Eli (our adversary in this point) grants, that Sports and Recreations are prohibited on the Lord's day, so 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 bias, and the game? When we shoot, what are we intent upon but our aim, and the mark? I instance in these two, because they are especially urged as lawful on the Sabbath. Let us, saith Greenham, Cease from Games, Sports, Exercises and such like things of less necessity, but great impediments to the 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 this point hath these words: Such is the reverence that is due to the public duties of Devotion, that they require not only a surcease from other works and thoughts for the time of the performance, but also a decent preparation beforehand, that so our thoughts and affections, which are naturally bent upon the world, and not easily withdrawn from it, may be raised to a disposition befitting so sacred an employment: 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 ourselves for them when to come? Meat is not healthful, as only put into the mouth, but as chewed, swallowed and digested. The sacred Ordinances of Christ must be followed with critical inquiries, divine and serious meditations, servant prayers, or they will fall short of the intended work and design of them. The seed when thrown into the ground, must be covered with snow, warmed with sunshines, watered 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.

[unspec 2] Recreations on the Sabbath, they are the snares of the flesh, they are only pleasing temptations, with a fair color, like the Apple which drew our first Parents to a breach of God's will, it was pleasant to behold. The Jews first Feasted on the Sabbath, then danced frantickly, and grew excessively profane, as the Professors of Leiden observe. These pleasing sports, how often do they draw the tongue to sinful 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 profaneness: God's holy Sabbath needs not such engines of corruption.

[unspec 3] Recreations on God's blessed Sabbath, They are the very canker of Ordinances, they eat out the very heart and force of them: Sports will easily and naturally rub off convictions, take off the gust and sweetness we have tasted in the Word, and wear off the impressions of Prayer, and of other solemn duties, all which with the sound of the Gospel we have partaked of, evaporates and is lost. When we have conversed with God in Ordinances, how many things lie at the catch to invalidate their power; Satan is ready to steal away the Word, our hearts to damp and quench the efficacy of it, the world to charm away the sweet music 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 ourselves with Recreations and Pastimes, to bury all in distaste 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 Savior speaketh, will choke the Word, much more the pleasures of the world, when they are more soft and suitable 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 shoot away, bowle away, whatever we have been affected with, in holy Ordinances and Administrations.

[unspec 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 beg'd for the breaches of this Commandment for time past, Lord have mercy upon us; and then Grace is importuned 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 Lord's day only.

2. That she takes the observation of the Lord's 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 labors, and needless Recreations, both which are but presumptuous encroachments on God's appropriated day. As holy Augustine forbad hunting, and all worldly pleasures. And Leo the Emperor; Nullis 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 addicted on the Lord's day, being strange inconsistencies.

[unspec 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 God's Courts, better then a thousand. Flashy and frivolous Recreations on a Lord's day, to a gracious spirit, they are his little-ease, and the clipping of his wing, the Souls confinement and restraint, the Prison grate between him and Christ, no way his Pleasure but his Purgatory; and where they are received with gratefulness and contentment, they loudly Proclaime too much froth and vanity. David danced at the enjoyment of the Ark, but these leave the Ark to sport and dance.

[unspec 6] Recreations on the Lord's 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 honey comb in the Word to please the taste, no pleasing vent in prayer, to ease and satisfy the Soul; as if singing of Psalms made no music, and reading the Scriptures did yield no delight. Ah, with what patience and content did the Jews hear the Law read in the time of Nehemiah? The people stood 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 till midnight: the sweet Oracles of God drowned all wearisomeness and distaste. Ordinances have a savor in them, 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 emptiness, as if they were barren wombs, and dry breasts. Let the Umpirage in this case be referred to the holy Psalmist, in the Text quoted in the Margin.

[unspec 7] Recreations on the Sabbath, they are the spring of impertinent discourse, which is expressly 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 Savior saith. Sports are the very 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 God's Name in vain, nay, with Execrations and Oaths, the scum of Hell itself? 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 Herod's 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 rejoicings, and carnal triumphs; nay heats and passions are mixed 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 Savior 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 God's 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.

[unspec 8] Recreations on a Sabbath, They are an indignity offered to the noble and precious soul. Shall the body, that mass and Isa. pile of dust, cemented only with a little flying breath, that bag of flegm and cholar, that prison of the soul, as Plato used to call it, enjoy the time of six whole days; and the soul, that piece of eternity in the bosom, the breath of God, the saving of which was the grand and forcible attractive of Christ's 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 labors of our Callings, and some in solemn Duties in the public Congregations, and some in sports and delightful Recreations, when the public 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 colors, must be the only morsel for the immortal soul. But how irrational is it for the soul, that better part of man, which shall live as long as God himself, to be straightened and pinnion'd to a few hours? It must not enjoy one whole day, only 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, only a few hours on a Sabbath, be suitable 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.

[unspec 9] Labors are forbidden on the Sabbath, much more Recreations. That labors are prohibited, the fourth Commandment is the pregnant testimony of: now sports, toys, pastimes are of less avail then labors. 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.

[unspec 1] Labors 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 labor for that which is not bread, there can be no supplies from the breast of a recreation. Pastimes are clouds without water.

[unspec 2] Recreations more tempt and flatter the flesh, then Labors do. Toyle doth not pamper; dancing, hunting, shooting do; they are sun-shines which make the dunghill of man's 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 control the security of our sins; worldly men never seek for pleasure, 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 anymore? yet how many neglect their pleasure for the world, and we will not for heaven or our souls? But after the public Ordinances are over, nay multitudes in the very time of public Worship, follow their sensual Recreations, I was going to say, Abominations. It was a saying of King James, Though without superstition, Plays and lawful Games may be used in May, and good Chear at Christmas, yet always 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 upon that day to be so disordered, as to follow his ordinary pleasures, without great contempt of God and Man: Upon 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 Husbandman with his Plow. I shall shut up this particular with a pious 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 Lord's day) will do, when they come to Heaven, (if ever they come there) where there is a continued Sabbatism 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 endeavor 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.

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

[unspec 1] 1. By Divine Law, (viz.) the fourth Commandment, where Labors are expressly forbidden; and sports are an equal, if not a greater impediment to the duties of the Sabbath, both public and private; the sweets of Recreation influencing the mind, and withdrawing the heart, much more then the sweats of Labor. Surely if we must not toil, we must not trifle on God's holy day.

[unspec 2] 2. By the Law of Nature; which requires a total abstinence from all works, both of Labor and Pleasure, during the time allotted and consecrated to God's service, public and private. But the Lord's 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 man's Fancy?

[unspec 3] 3. By the Law Political, which requires a total resting from all kind of labor or diversion, and applying our souls wholly, and only to Religious Exercises, as the Statute of King Edward the sixth of blessed memory, a Law yet unrepealed. That English Josiah, the morning Sun of Reformation in England, began early to confine the Sabbath to the two great designs of it, Rest and Sanctity; and in this he shown himself to be Custos utrius{que} Tabulae, a Keeper of both the Tables: And indeed the enjoining of the holy observance of God's blessed day, is a rare piece of Reformation, well becoming the Care and Conscience of the best of Princes.

[unspec 4] 4. By the Law Ecclesiastical, especially that Homilie of our Church, which is established by a political Law, which forbids all Labor, and requires us wholly to give ourselves 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 Lord's 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 sinful practice.

[unspec 11] Recreations on a Sabbath are the wastes 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 only of his holy day for his service and worship, and left the remainder to man's disposal, either to pursue his Games or Delights; Such sinful encroachments, to use our Savior's phrase, are only the putting a piece of new cloth to an old Garment.

[Obj.] And if the plea of the laboring person be brought in, who labors 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 it may be replied,

[Sol. 1] This Argument may as well proceed against the Old Sabbath, as against the Lord's day, and yet it is generally confessed, that the Lord enjoined 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 Lord's day.

[unspec 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 itself, especially to those who have wearied themselves with labor; 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.

[unspec 3] The greatest mercy which can be shown to such as labor hard all the week, is to give them rest for their bodies, and divine refreshments and recreations for their souls; and for this the Lord himself was careful: And if their bodies have rest and repose, the greatest mercy, is mercy to their soul. to breath the soul in holy meditation, to draw out the soul 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 Christ's stays his beloved on a Sabbath, with Flaggons and Apples, in Gospel dispensations.

[unspec 4] And if any desire to be merciful, 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 Sabbath be God's, it is no more true mercy to permit bodily recreations on that day, then it is mercy to give men leave to steal other men's 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 God's Commands should wait on man's conveniencies? and happily this conveniency is created from man's neglect, not necessity.

[unspec 5] But supposing it was mercy to permit some bodily recreation (which yet cannot be granted) to such as have labored hard all the week long, yet what is that to such who have labored very little, or nothing in the week, to such whose week is nothing but a Sabbath, a rest, and time of leisure, and vacation? and yet these are most ready to call and clamour for sports and recreations on the Lord's day. But as one wittily observes, Those who are not annihilated with hard labor, 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 moistened with sweat, and hands hardened with toil, and work all the 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 God's holy day. And therefore to reassume that Argument from which we have a little diverted; Recreations on the blessed Sabbath are inexcusably the wastes of that time, which is wholly dedicated to the service of God, and the soul, as now comes to be shown.

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 Lord's day; I shall only reply, it was heartily to be wished, such great parts had been improved on some other subject, and the stream of their sweat had run in some other channel. Alas, in this Argument, man's 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 cause, and needs not the supplement of another Advocate. But if the whole day of a Sabbath must be spent with God in public, 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 Lord's day will lose its force and significancy. And here I may begin the Argument, with that sharp expostulation of Naaman's 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 required of us six days, and given us only one for ourselves, 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 itself here seems to condemn the straightness of our spirits: but for the clearing of the Argument, we will fetch our evidences from the treasuries of Scripture, Reason and conveniency.

[unspec 1] In the fourth Commandment, which yet our Liturgy 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 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, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; and it is very observable, and not to be passed over with silence, that God doth not only 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 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Jom Ha Sabbath, the day of a Sabbath; Now the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 jom properly and usually signifies a full day, unless it be figuratively, and by way of Synecdoche; 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 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 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 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 jom is a whole day by the confession of all. Now shall God enjoin the observation of a day, and shall we mutilate it? Shall we maim or curtaile it, and take part of this holy day for our labors or recreations? Surely this savors 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.

[unspec 2] And as we have an Argument in the beginning of the fourth Commandment, wherein God shows his Sovereignty, so we may discern an Argument in the body of the Commandment, wherein God shows his indulgence; for in this fourth Commandment God allows us six days for labor, but the seventh is to be a day of holy rest and observation. Now the six days for labor, are six full and whole days, without any deduction or abatement. Man may without regret on these six days pursue 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , those things which belong to this life, as Chrysostom calls them; He may go forth to his labor till the Evening, as the Psalmist speaks; nay; if his strength still fail not, he may draw the curtains of the night, and make a further progress into his toil 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 days for Earth? The day for spiritual rest, shall it not be of an equal length with the days for secular labor? Whence ariseth the inequality, that the six days may be wholly employed in our worldly affairs, but if part only of the Lord's day be spent in holy services, it shall be sufficient? I am sure the same word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 jom a day, is in both; both the six days, 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 days taken up in secular employments. Chrysostom 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 Zanchi, 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 service and worship of God; and this (saith he) is firm and unshaken. Augustine in one of his Sermons adviseth the people, That from the Evening of the Saturday, till the Evening of the Lord's day, they avoid all vain sloth and idleness, and all secular toil and labor, 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 days to labor 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 enjoins, the seventh day for holy Rest, as indulges the other six days for toil and labor; the very plea's of the soul may come in to affirm the sanctification of one whole day in the week, to spiritual and divine services. Let us consider.

[unspec 1] The Soul in the Nobleness of its Original, it is a Heaven-born soul, God's breath in man's bosom; Mans soul only bubbles from the fountain of spirits; our soul is but a beam 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 only the sheath of the soul, the cabinet for this jewel to lie in, put in its title and right to six? What is this but to degrade the soul from the honor of its Excellent Original?

[unspec 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 God's Image. There is little of God's Image to be seen in the body. God is a spirit, and so stamps his Image on the spirits of men and shall not the soul, which bears so noble a superscription, enjoy the privilege and latitude of one day, as well as the body, that earthly tabernacle which is soon taken down, and wrapped up in a silent grave, enjoy the immunity of six whole days? But must the abatement fall on the souls portion?

[unspec 3] Consider the multiplicity, of a souls work; and therefore let not its day be shortened by frothy pleasures or servile labors. 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 only two things to get, (viz.) food and raiment, it hath but two rooms to go thorough, the Kitchen and the Wardrobe: But the soul hath more and nobler achievements to pursue; It hath a Pardon, Grace, Christ, God, Heaven to look after, and obtain; and shall its own day, given it more especially for these great attempts, be subject to an unhappy diminution?

[unspec 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 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 vigor of its strength is soon weakened and enervated, a thousand diseases can crack this piece of frailty; and yet this tottering piece of flesh, must have its full six days, and the eternal soul not enjoy one whole day, without allowance made for pleasure and secular employments.

[unspec 5] Let us consider the soul, in the importance of its welfare. The body follows the condition of the soul, but the soul doth not follow the condition of the body. If thy soul miscarry, it had been better, as our Savior speaks, thou hadst never been born. Man fares as his soul fares. It was 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 Lord's 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 Emperors 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 Lord's day, and sanctify it from the Evening of the Saturday, till the Evening of the Lord's day, sequestered from all business. Nay, let us hear Mr. Primrose, our Adversary in this Controversy, 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 to public and private devotion; men must stint some ordinary day for that end, and in this stinting, must not show themselves inferior to the Jews, appointing less then one day in seven to God's 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, which he proves from the practice of the Heathens, who observed a whole day to the honor of their God's: And therefore what spirit are they of, who on the week day could wish the Sun might stand still, as in the time of Joshua, or run back as on the dyal of Ahaz, that they might have greater leisure 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 weary of their Sabbath. In a word, it is very strange, that any man should make the Sabbath like Nebuchadnezzar's Image, the upper parts Gold and Silver, but the lower 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 labors, or Clay, drossy pleasures and delights, in bowling and shooting, and such like sports, so much contended for by many men to be lawful on the Sabbath day.

[unspec 3] God will not abate anything of a whole day in other Festivals, which are of an inferior nature, and which were only Ceremonial shadows of something to come, as we 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 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 atonement 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 Jews in the slaughter of the Egyptians first born, and the feast of Pentecost, a feast instituted in memory of the Law given on Mount Sinai, fifty days after Israel's coming out of Egypt; and in these feasts which continued divers days, 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 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 the second coming of Christ; (I mean not the seventh day, the Jews Sabbath, but the first day of the week, the Christian Sabbath) If the Lord was so strict, that he would not lose a moments honor 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; Walaeus observes, all the other Sabbaths of the Jews had their dependence on the great Sabbath, the weekly Sabbath, and the week was sometimes called Sabbath, and so the first day of the week was called the first day of the Sabbath, and so the second of the week, the second of the Sabbath, for the Sabbath sake, that glorious day, which shed a luster upon, and gave name to the whole week. And indeed other Sabbaths, were but beggarly elements, as the Apostle 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 nature, not covered with so much darkness, nor subject to so much decay; and therefore if God be so punctual, 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.

[unspec 4] And fourthly (yet further to clear this truth) we must conclude, To abate anything 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 sweetened the fourth Commandment with so much equity and kindness, in giving us six days, 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 toil, and their pastimes, God may frame the same expostulation, which once he made to backsliding Israel, What iniquity have you found in me, wherein have I wearied thee, come testify against me: Have I roughed my Comm • ndmen • s with any grievous severity? have I not given you six days, and reserved to myself only 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 labors, 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.

[unspec 5] We may likewise fetch an Argument from the Text itself, which commands our delight in the holy Sabbath, We must call the Sabbath our delight, saith the Text. Now can this be consistent with that delight and complacency a Christian should take in the Sabbath, after a few hours to break from holy services, and spiritual duties, to gad after the pleasures or profits of the World? To refresh their wearied and tired 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 God's holy day are weak and faint, if they must be fetched again, and revived with such loose and vain satisfactions. Indeed it argues a very vain and frothy spirit, to have no more pleasure in God's 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 whoever tasted any sweetness in Christ, or his Sabbath, and felt the 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 God's 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 bosom 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 grateful to us, we should not so soon shake them off, we should not make the time of a Sabbath, like the veil of the Temple at Christ's 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; here we must say as Christ of the fragments, gather up the fragments, let nothing be lost. It is perilous to clip the Kings Coyne, and very dangerous to clip the Lord's day; let us not with Annanias and Sapphira, bring half the price. This holy time was never ours, nor ever, was there any part thereof in our power; therefore to keep back any hour of this holy day must needs be sinful. If no part of this day be the Lord's, why do we give him any? And if the whole be the Lord's, 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 God's holy day, and were our hearts captivated with Divine Communion. Delight sweetens duty, and makes it easy and pleasurous. That Sabbath cannot be long which is complacential. David did request to spend not only the Sabbath, but his life in the Temple, and counted one day in God's house, better then a thousand. It is nothing but a carnal frame of spirit disgusting the things of God, makes the Sabbath tedious and wearisome, and seeks to break open the Cage door, that it may fly out to its sensual 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.

[unspec 6] Our own Conveniency and advantage, calls for the whole day of a Sabbath to be spent in holy and spiritual services; for the gain we acquire in public 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 public. The fruit we have enjoyed in public, will presently be blasted by pastimes and sports, which withdraw and alienate the soul from the very duties it had newly been employed in. Happily in the public 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 public ordinances. Our tears we shed at home, must importune a 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 only to sanctify it in the public Congregations, but in our private Houses, not only in solemn Ordinances, but in private Duties. And if we pursue public, private and secret Duties, which yet are so necessary on a Sabbath, what time will be left for labor or sportfull refreshments? So then the whole Sabbath must be spent with God.

[unspec 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 sanctified in holy duties, in opposition to their own works. As for the nights we dispute it not, they were allowed to 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 contemplation, Our field is larger, our light is clearer, our service is sweeter; we have our Sabbath to behold the face of our Beloved, and what work more engaging and complacential?

[unspec 8] The very Heathens by the light of Nature, gave their God's no less then a whole day, and would not suffer any work to be done on those holy days; So Macrobius tells us, That the services of their God's 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 days. Nay, one of our Adversaries in this particular confesseth freely; As the time in which such Religious Actions are done, so that some day or days should be destinated for the more solemn performance of those actions, may seem to be a dictate of the Law of Nature, inasmuch as the Heathens who had no other Guide, had their solemn Feasts and set days in all Ages consecrated to the worship of their God's. 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 willful Offender, who observed not strictly three days consecrated to their God's, 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 only have a part, the rest to be drowned in sensual pleasures, or worldly toil, 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 God's who have eyes and see not, have more durable and continued worship, then our God who is Omniscient; those God's who have ears and hear not, have more solemn adorations then our God, who is a God hearing prayer; those God's who are Silver and 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 Apostle in another case, Who is sufficient for these things? To this it may be briefly replied;

[unspec 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 Tertullian's time a dispute, whether it be not a duty to fast on the Lord's day; but our Savior's 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 Lord for his allowances of love: Nature even on the Sabbath hath both its Nurse, and its Caterer, its sleep and its provisions.

[unspec 2] Men do not complain of whole days for the world; they rise early and go to bed late, and eat the bread of carefulness; 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 ways are unwearied, and when 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 busy ourselves in in the affairs of the world? It is strange, that neither divine 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 command, nor divine rewards should clip our wings, but that we will be flying even on the Lord's day, into the pleasing embraces of a sensual delight, or secular emolument.

[unspec 3] Many of God's Servants, the Excellent of the earth, and the darlings of Heaven, and Princes in disguise, those patterns 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 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.

[unspec 4] There have been those who have spent divers days and nights also in the service of God. Let us only instance in Anna the Prophetess, a widow of above fourscore and four 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.

[unspec 5] And for such as are tired out with the time of the Sabbath, would they go to Heaven? There it is ever Sabbath, always singing, serving and setting up God. Bernard urgeth the observation of the Sabbath, and holding out in holy exercises thereupon, upon this account, That by present rest, men may learn to live in rest eternal; and by persevering in service, men may be prompt to perpetuate the Lord's 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 abstain from unsuitable practices, but unsuitable discourses on 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 endeavor to begin heaven. Vain discourse on a Sabbath, is like Music at a suneral, or sighs at a wedding, which are not only 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 loose language the fruit of those powerful 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. God's 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 Emperor Leo would permit no talking of pleasures, or worldly matters on a Lord's day: And so Clemens Romanus condemned all Jestings, and facetiousness, to tickle or delight the vanity of men's spirits. Men by breaking jests should not break the Sabbath. Dr. Ames observes, there is nothing more fits and tunes the heart for public 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 Savior (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 persuade 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 maim 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 God's into our lips; we must not only not worship them, but not name them: So that there is irreligion in the tongue, as well as in the knee; and if ever sinfulness 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 ourselves. Discourse, it either doth cast a stench or a perfume among others, according as it is good or bad. Now let us take these five Glasses to see the sin of vain discourse on the Sabbath day.

[unspec 1] We may see it in the clear Glass of a Command. Frothy language is only the foam of a carnal heart at any time, much more on the Sabbath; it is always the breath of vanity, and therefore called corrupt communication by the Apostle, who here severely forbids all such communication. And indeed worldly discourse on the Sabbath is no less then corrupt discourse, putrid, rotten and unsavory language, which is prohibited by a strict command, Eph. 4. 29. The same Apostle saith, Evil communication corrupts good manners; I am sure it corrupts good Sabbaths; it is nothing but spittle cast upon the face of a Sabbath, its affront and shame; profane talkers dealing with the day of a Sabbath, as the Jews with the Lord of the Sabbath, they spit in its face.

[unspec 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 of a honey comb, the langudge of Heaven, the triumph of words, the salvifical discoveries, that he brought from his Fathers bosom. But let me lay down the wonted custom of a late Minister, now with God, Holy Mr. Dod, briefly he thus spent his Sabbath; He preached almost all day long on the Lord's day; first, in the morning he opened a Chapter, and prayed in his Family, after preached twice in public, 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 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 today. After the two Sermons in public 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 some • 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.

[unspec 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 murder, but the very hating of our brother; the seventh Commandment doth not only forbid acts of Adultery, but lascivious looks, wanton glances, nay, effeminate speculations; and shall not the fourth Commandment be as large to condemn worldly discourses, as well as secular labors? 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 behavior be more precise to our neighbor, 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.

[unspec 4] In the Glass of Religion. We should converse as Saints on God's holy day; our language then more especially should betray us to belong to Jesus Christ. Every thing should be 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 edify 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 Lord's day. Where are our hearts, when our tongues range and licentiate in sinful 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.

[unspec 5] And lastly, we may see this sin of foolish talking on a Sabin the Glass of future Glory. The glorified Saints converse 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 discernible; but this is clear, that it is most holy. We should study to spend our Sabbaths here, as we shall spend them above, in all holy and divine communications; there shall be no vain word, no senseless prate about the things of this life. Let us begin Heaven betimes, and in observing a temporal, eye our Eternal Sabbath.

CHAP. VII. The Text further opened and explained.

ANd thus I have run through the negative directions in the Text, I now come to the positive. There is something Commanded, as well as something 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.

[unspec 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 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 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 toil, but our triumph; the Sanctuary must be our banqueting house, Duty our delight; It must be the joy of our souls to associate with Christ, to pour out our requests in prayer, to entertain the discourses of divine will, and to enjoy spiritual love, which is better then wine. The Sabbath in the primitive times was called the feast of the Sabbath, and feasts are not usually times of tediousness but pleasantness, such times pass away with grateful delight; and surely it must needs soil 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 for fellowship with himself, and for the transacting of the great affairs of Eternity?

[unspec 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 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 adorn a Sabbath, Joy and Fear; the one for the benefits of God, the 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, rejoice with trembling. It was the saying of a Learned man; Upon the day of a Sabbath, let us not promote our own Glory, by stately walking, rich attire, and pompous appearances, but let us exalt God's Glory by holy duties, and this will be more glorious and honorable to us. Upon the Sabbath let us tremble at God's Word, as the Lord speaks by the Prophet, Isa. 66, 2. Let us lie at God's feet, let us be awful of God's presence, let us exalt God's Name, and this is to sanctify a Sabbath. Humble hearts, and not fine clothes, the bowing of the soul, not the plaiting of the hair, or the ordering of the Dress, speaks the Sabbath Glorious.

[unspec 3] The Lord calls for high estimations of the Sabbath. So the Text, [Honorable.] The Word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Machhid, in the Original, signifies that which is Glorious, and that which is Ponderous. Every Sabbath is a price put into our hands, a good wind for Heaven, the souls term time, that a • tionius temporis, that juncture of time which the soul hath to cla • up for Eternity. On this day more especially, the Scepter of Grace is held out to lay hold upon. One observes, our Sabbath is called the Lord's day, not only because it is the Commemoration of our Lord's 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 honorable; and indeed it is so, in a manifold respect.

[unspec 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 for the Sabbath day, so is the very title. And indeed what is the Lord's day, but primitiae Coeli, the dawning of Glory, the beginnings of Heaven, the tuning of the music which shall last forever, to every true believer. On the Lord's day the Saint makes it his grand affaire to advance the Lord's Honor.

[unspec 2] If we look downward, the Sabbath still is honorable: Then the Lord crowns us with his graces, honors us with his presence, meets us in his ordinances, puts all marks and characters of honor on his people; then the King sits at his Table, and sends forth his Spicknard, with the sweet smell of it. The Holy Sabbath is the blessed time when the Lord 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.

[unspec 3] If we look outward, if we cast our eyes upon other days, the other six days of worldly toil and labor. The very gleanings of a Sabbath, are better then the Vintage of the week. In other days we only reap the curse of the first Adam, to eat our bread in the sweat of our brows; on the 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, lie under the impressions of his spirit, and inherit the sweets of his presence; and therefore compare the Sabbath with other days, and what is the dross of a week, to the gold of a Sabbath? This day is nothing but the souls weekly Jubilee.

[unspec 4] If we look forward towards eternity, the Sabbath in this regard is honorable; it is the special day for the soul to dress and trim itself in to meet▪ its Bridegroom; this is our peculiar time to prepare for eternity. The Lord's day is the day of Commemoration for Christ's 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 wisdoms gates, and brings its corruptions to the slaughtering power of the Word, enricheth itself with Gospel-treasures, feeds its graces upon Gospel provisions, and every way accommodates its self for the embraces of eternity.

[unspec 5] There is another command in the Text, (viz.) of fruitfulness; so the Text, [and shalt honor him.] Now there is nothing more honors God then our holy fruitfulness, this gratisies his Will, this magnifies his Grace, this adorns his Gospel, this glorifies his Name. Our Savior saith expressly, Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. We exceedingly honor God, when on a Sabbath day, we weep much in the Closet, pray much in the Family, hear much in the Sanctuary, when we tremble at God's Word, rejoice in God's Ordinances, melt in God's 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 God's 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 enjoined 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 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 sweet sinelling sacrifice the conscientious keeping of the Sabbath was to him; such a Saint the Promises troop after him, they cluster together to refresh him; God gives the Bond and the Counterpane too. But more particularly, these promises they are not only rare, but comprehensive, they are both temporal and spiritual, God's bonds for left hand and right hand mercies.

And first God promises Ubertatem Voluptatis, abundance of Pleasure, so the Text, [then shalt thou delight thyself 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 sinned pleasure in my self; the same word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Gnanag, delight, which is used in the former verse for our delight in the Sabbath, is here used for our delight in the Lord. Our duty shall not exceed his bounty: if we on a Sabbath delight in him, we on a Sabbath shall receive delights from him; God will meet the gracious soul, its breathings after God shall be compensated with his blessings in God, thou shalt never lose by satiating thyself 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 God's holy day, thy heart shall be more sweetened 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,

[unspec 1] Most Pure, they are Christalline pleasures without spot or faeculency, they are incapable of excess: The soul may rejoice in God, and fear no surfeit: There is no tang of sin, or mistake cleaves to them; as holy David, In the multitude of my thoughts 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 easy, we mostly over-do