The Practical Sabbatarian
[unspec 3] 3. And what charms of vain and frothy communication of old and young, men and women, upon God's holy day? as if their tongues were set on fire of Hell, Jam. 3. 6. Persons not considering, that God hath not only confined our hands, that we must not work, but our tongues too, that we must not talk unprofitably on his own day, Isa. 58. 13. But how have the Inhabitants of London left themselves to the range of all manner of foolish and vain discourse, and their communication like Noah's Ark hath taken in the unclean with the clean; and this chat must defile God's day.
[unspec 4] 4. Let London remember the crowds in the fields upon the blessed Sabbath, which throngs of people have been like the spires of Grass, or the leaves of the Trees which they came to behold, and all this to flatter corrupt and want • n sense, and to waste the most precious time of the most precious Sabbath: What Atheistical profaneness is this, to be feeding the Eye with a prospect, or pleasing the Fancy with a walk, when the immortal Soul cries out, Improve this time for my interest, or I perish to eternity? O! that laziness and sensuality should confound all reason and religion; What time wilt thou have for the gaining of a Christ, for the saving of a S • ul, if the Sabbath be trifled away? Is looking after the invaluable Soul, such a despisable and inconsiderable work, as that it may be so easily dispensed with? O Lord us vanity! This hath fired the best City in the World. And this idleness in the fields is not only before and after the solemn worship of God, but in the very seasons of grace, as if sensua • delight would bid defiance to spiritual duty, and God's service must give way to man's froth and vanity; Gospel truths must be laid aside for secular walks, and heavenly Ordinances must be put off for empty recreations, which like the Tulip have no sent in them, and like the walks they tr ••• , have no spirit or life in them.
5. [unspec 5] And hath not this been the stain of London, that Ale-h • uses have been filled with vain and frivolous Guests on God's holy day; as if Bacchus had been the God they had only worshipped, and the Cup of Intemperance did out-vie the • u • • f Salvation.
[unspec 6] 6. Nay, may it not be suspected, that the Stews have not been unfrequented on this holy Sabbath, and so Venus may be the Goddess of these debauched sinners? We have had our Chambers, not of Image • y, Ezek. 8. 12. but of Adultery, Rom. 13. 13. O the wantonness of the people on this blessed day! many, nay, too many are upon the merry pin, laughing, and jesting, and disporting themselves one with another, as if the Sabbath was some jovial time set apart for some carnal triumph, and not the set solemnity for soul concernments.
[unspec 7] 7. Nay, hath not this day been spent with m • re s • n and profaneness then any other day? Other days have been employed in honest labors, and in the sweat of the b •• ws; but this blessed day in dishonest delights, and in the pleasing of • ur lusts.
[unspec 8] 8. And what want of preparation for this holy day, the inhabitants of London toiling no part of the week with so much eagerness as on the Saturday night, when they should be dressing themselves to meet with the Brid • goom of their souls on his own day; in this falling below the Jews, who had their Parascheve, their preparation-day.
[unspec 9] 9. And shall this be cast into the woeful indictment; How guilty hath London been of profuse furniture • f the table upon God's holy day, as if men were determined to clog the sense that they might chain the soul, and so impede and hinder its freedom in holy duties, and make intemperance the mother of their devotion: Whence comes our sleep and stupefaction in the worship of God on his own day, but from the fullness of the cup, and the excess of the table, when the wanton pala • e shall prevail more, then the inestimable and precious soul?
[unspec 10] 10. And oftentimes when the shop hath been shut, the work hath not been laid aside on God's day, but many have wrought in their callings as sedulously, though more privately then upon other days; and too often the Artificer hath swayed more then the Christian, and m • n under a pretence to keep the eighth, have made bold with the fourth Commandment.
And therefore whatever hand was used in London's fire, it was Sabbath-guilt which threw the first fire-ball to turn it into flames. When Mount Sinai was on fire and smoking, God was there, and that was the cause of the combustion; but when dear London was, on fire, guilt was there, nay, Sabbath-guilt, and this was the cause of its devastation and retine.
Now ye have seen the dart, let us search the wound. And was not London's fire remarkable? Surely never any judgment was sharpened with more mournful circumstances: The handwriting against the City, was like the hand-writing of the Wall, mentioned in the beginning of the 5th of Daniel, we may see every finger distinctly. But more especially let us glance at these more dreadful remarkables, the several evidences of divine wrath and displeasure.
[unspec 1] By London's fire, the beauty and the splendor of England was defaced. How deformed is the body without the head? And was not London the head of England, as Damascus of Syria? Isa. 7. 8. Nay, London was not only the head of England, but of the three Nations, the two chief Cities of Scotland and Ireland easily yielding to the Glory and Renown of London. What the face is to the body, that London was to England, the beauty and the loveliness of it; London's glory was the sweet complexion of the Land, which made strangers and foreigners fall in love with it. But now God hath given a scar to England's face, and that must needs be a great blemish. Look upon England as Rich, and London was the Exchequer of it, the Mine to feed that Exchequer. Look upon England as Potent, London was the Arsenal of it; and the Tower was not so much an Honorable Prison, as a well furnished Armoury for all military provisions. London was a City which could raise an Army, and pay it when it had done: This Glorious City was the sword and the sinnews of war, the very right hand of all public undertakings. But now we are as Samson with his hair cut off, enfeebled for want of strength: Now England is like the Shechemites, Gen. 34. 25. unfit for any invasion. Our strength is fallen, Lam. 1. 14. The Head of England is made bald, both of strength and ornament. London, the Crown of England hath lost its Jewels of wealth and beauty. Now London is rolling in its ashes, and we may write Ichabod upon poor despicable England. If our Father spit in our face, saith God to Moses, ought we not to be ashamed seven days? Numb. 12. 14. Ah! God hath spit fire into the face of England: London, like Job lies on its dung-hill, Job 2. 8. and with the afflicted Jews, Esth. 4. 3. makes its abode in its ashes. From the Daughter of Zion beauty is departed, Lam. 1. 6. The honor of Renowned England is laid in the dust.
[unspec 2] In London's fire is observable, the greatness of the wind at that time. The Lord seemed to prepare bellows to blow this fire, that it might not go out till it had accomplished its Execution. Winds they are the fan of Nature to cool and purge the Air, to maturate and ripen the Corn; but here God brought the winds out of his treasury to scatter the flames of his indignation; they served only to speed our ruin, so that the helps of nature became the hurts of London. The fire did ride upon the wings of the wind, that it might sooner come to its journeys end. The Apostle James speaks of fierce winds, Jam. 3. 6. And such were these to scatter the fire, and so make the destruction Epidemical. He that commands the winds, now gave them a Commission in wrath, for the purposes of his severe vengeance; the winds indeed were high, and that raised the storm, which shipwrecked famous and renowned London.
[unspec 3] It was very remarkable, That the season should be so hot and dry at the time of this fire; God seemed to make the houses of the City like tinder, before he struck fire, that it might be sure to take: and that intemperate heat, as it fitted our dwellings for sudden waste, so it dried up the springs, insomuch that little water could be had, where usually there was the greatest plenty. This parching season fought against London with a two-edged sword; it prepared the houses for fuel, and it kept back the remedy, those needful streams which should have grappled with this devouring fire. This is worthy our observation, In the time of our need we have a burning sun, instead of a moistening shower. That Sun which rules the day, guilds the world, guides man, and fructifies the earth, was an an open enemy to London; so that we may say, that when London was on fire, it was not a pleasant thing to behold the sun. That glorious luminary, in which at other times we see the glory of God, Psal. 19. 4, at this time we might see the wrath of God.
[unspec 4] That which was observable in London's fire was, That the wa • e • -house which served much of the City with water, was on • of the first things which was set on fire. O tremendous wrath! Our help was removed, that our hurt might be amplified. God betimes, in the very first commencing of this judgment took away our relief: We had nothing to quench our flames, but our tears, and if they before had been seasonably poured forth, happily the first flames had been prevented. When God was highly incensed against Israel, he took away their weapons, they must go down to the Philistines to shar • en • Coulter, 1 Sam. 13. 20. They had enemies to assault, but no swords to defend. And in this judgment God took away our remedy, we had fire to devour, but no water to quench; the Lord threw fire upon our houses, and he broke our Buckets. We may read God's heavy displeasure in the very preface of this judgment. The fire licked up our water, as in Elijah's sacrifice, but with this difference, that was a sign of God's favor, but this the token of his wrath. God strip • us as soon as he struck us, and took away our defense, that his judgment might fall with the greater force.
[unspec 5] The infatuation of the people in not being industrious to quench the fire was most remarkable. When formerly fire seized upon the City, everyone was an instrument to suppress it, and every passenger an Engine to quench it; there was labor in the hand, and meltings in the heart of every person, to put a stop to the devouring flames. But in this tremendous fire, the question of the Angel to the Disciples was very seasonable, Acts 1. 12. Why stand ye gazing? The feebleness of a Samson when he had lost his hair, the distraction of a Belshazzar when he had lost his wits, and the trembling of a Felix when he had lost his design, seized upon the inhabitants of London; their frights were great, but their help was small, and they knew better how to weep, then to work. Magistrates themselves were wrapped up in confusion, and their Authority did only accent their misery, that they should bear rule in London's calamity. And it is not to be overpassed, that everyone was more industrious to save his goods, then his City, his particular interest, then the public concernment, as if every Cabin was not concerned in the whole ship. And it is worth our nothing, that blowing up of houses that effectual means of preservation, was either hid or gainsaid until it was too late, and then we found out the remedy, when the disease had killed us.
Our flames were at the highest in the same month, when the Plague was at the highest. viz. Doleful September. The Jews had their black days, Zach. 8. 19. for the taking of their City, for the burning of their Temple, &c. And London hath its black month. In this we are more unhappy then the Jews, they had a month to celebrate their delivery from Egyptian bondage, Exod. 12. 2. viz. their joyful Nisan: We have our month too, but it is to bemoan the loss of England's glory, our sorrowful September. Surely there is some mystery in Providence, that the Plague and the Fire of London should meet in the same month. Is it because God would give London but one full year for repentance? Or that the latter judgment falling in the same month, should be a sharp remembrance of the former? Or was it, that both the judgments falling in Sept. should prognosticate that England should be in the fall of the leaf? However, the circumstance of time is a significant ast • risk to point out God's most critical wrath, and to alarm our seasonable and spee • y repentance. O fatal Autumn (to use the Prophets words) when the spoiler fell upon our fruitful vintage and inheritance, Jer. 48 32.
[unspec 7] That this dreadful fire should fall out in the year 1666. is not to be pretermitted. The year, according to the computation of most men, of the Christians Jubilee; the expectations of many were then upon the wing, and not a few were upon their watch-tower, not only supplicating, but confidently expecting some glorious thing to be brought to pass in the world. Some Prophetick spirits did peremptorily foretell, either that the Turks half-moon should be in the eclipse, or else that the Popes triple crown should totter and fall; they waited to hear that Mecha • was subverted, or Rome destroyed, not dreading, no not in a thought, that London should be burned: Most men seemed to behold Providence in travel, and they looked for some glorious Birth. But in this, Vox populi non fuit vox Dei, The voice of the people was not the voice of God. Our storm fell, when most looked for a fair day; so that we may take up the moan of the Prophet, Jer. 8. 15. We looked for peace, but no good came, and for a time of health, and behold trouble. And with Jephthah his Daughter, Judge. 11. 37, 38. we may bewail, as she her Virginity, so we our London's glory, now sacrificed to the flames, and made a Burnt offering to appease the wrath (as most say) of a Popish Conclave.
[unspec 8] This tremendous fire fell not upon Sodom, but upon Jerusalem, where there were many believing Abraham's, righteous Lots, patient Jobs, praying Daniel's, and weeping Ezraes. London was an Empory of Religion, as well as of Merchandise; and there did Christ feed his flocks at noon, Cant. 1. 7. with his warmest love, and his greatest light. London was the Goshen of the Church, where the Gospel Sun shone in its greatest vigor. Here were living Temples of God, surpassing the beauty of the temple of the old Jerusalem, where Grace, not Art, was most visible and observable. In London there was a Bourse of spiritual merchants; a City it was, blessed with the best of Ministers, and the most refined Professors; and it was the Center of holy Reformation: yet London was laid in ashes: Divine Providence seemed to go out of its wonted course of sweetness and mercy, to pour wrath and contempt upon this lovely Theatre of Piety. Here were ten righteous persons, nay thousands, nay (without doubt) ten thousands, yet the hand of the Lord was stretched out to destroy London. In this judgment the Axe was laid to the root of the tree, Mat. 3. 10. And God did shoot his sharpest arrows against the green tree; and what will he do to the dry? Now judgment began at the house of God, 1 Pet. 4. 17. This was the emphasis of Judgment; the best City in the world for serious Christians, for practical godliness, was buried in its rubbish. But may not Christ's moan be here mentioned, Mat. 23. 37. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the Prophets, and stonest them who are sent unto thee, behold your house is left unto you desolate. There were too many chased away the Prophets, and then London became desolate. Nay note, on a Sabbath the public liberty of the faithful Ministers of London was terminated and came to an end; and on a Sabbath London was burned.
[unspec 9] This fire of London was an unparalleled judgment; no age hath produced the like conslagration; never so great a a flame from so small a spark; the firing of an House proved the burning of a City. Here were no sieges of an enraged enemy, no throwing of Granadoes, whose very noise proclaim death and ruin. Jerusalem was set on fire, but it was first by the puissant hand of Nebuchadnezzar, and afterwards by the power of Titus the Roman. Rome was set on fire, but it was by the hand of a Valiant, though barbarous Gensericus the Vandal. Persepolis was set on fire, but it was by the hand of an infatuated Alexander. But London is in flames by an invisible hand, whether from Heaven by the hand of God, or from Hell by the hand of some cursed Jesuit, is not so clearly discovered, but time may uncase the mystery, Sed adhuc sub judice lis est. Most probable it is, there was never such a fire in the world, all circumstances being considered.
[unspec 1] Let us look upon the dispatch of this fire. Sometimes a whole street burnt within less then an hour; nay, it is to be marked with a Selah of observation, that there were burned within the walls of the City eighty one Parishes, besides divers of those sixteen remaining, mutilated and exceedingly maimed, a considerable part of them being consumed; and then we may consider, that the raging flames were not pent up within the walls, but brake forth into the Suburbs, and consumed wholly St. Brides Parish, an ample and large parish without the walls, and destroyed a great part of St. Sepulchers parish, which parish alone before the fire, might equalize, if not exceed any one of divers Cities in the Nation: So that if now we shall compute divine wrath, we shall find that there was a whole parish consumed for every hour the fire lasted, and more then 13000. houses were destroyed in the whole. Thus speedy and severe were these inexorable flames.
[unspec 2] Let us look upon the fierceness of this fire: Stone was no Bulwark against it, and-Brick was no rampart, everything was combustible before it, and became fuel to gratify its insatiable rage; nay, those pieces of Architecture which could have endured the bullet, could not endure the flames. This fire being like Time, which devours all before it.
[unspec 3] Let us look upon the triumphs of this fire, it flamed maugre all opposition, and defied the auxiliary help of hand or engine; Mans sweat and toil only made its way, could not suppress its force; and houses when plucked down made the flame to stoop, but not to expire.
[unspec 4] Let us look upon the destructiveness of this fire; Drugs could not heal it, nor spices sweeten it, nor gold bribe it, nor toil quench it, nor the stateliness of any building Court it, nor the usefulness of any structure stop or delay its mischievous procedures. Silver melted by its heat, as well as inferior metals; and the rubbish was a grave for gold, as well as for lumber, and the most pedantique chattels.
[unspec 5] Let us look upon the duration of this fire: It lasted full four days, as if all the four Elements met in its rage, or all the four Winds contributed to its violence, or as if all the four quarters of the City should be equal and level in their loss and impoverishment. And as Lazarus lay dead, John. 11. 17. So London lay dying four days together.
[unspec 2] And no fire in former Ages could run parallel with this If we consider the time when it begun: It was first kindled, on the blessed day of God, and early in the morning too, as Christ rose from his grave. Our fear fell on the Sabbath day, Mat. 24. 20. That day which should have been filled with joys, and praises, and heavenly celebrations, was filled with tears, and tremblings, and unspeakable frights, with bedewed cheeks, amazed spirits, with fainting hearts, and fallen countenances. This Sabbath was covered with black, and was a countermand to that sweet prophecy, Psal. 118. 24. here was no rejoicing of hearts, but wringing of hands, the emblems of sorrow and confusion.
[unspec 3] An unparalleled fire it was, If we consider the good things it consumed, beyond all Arithmetic or Inventory: So great was the loss caused by this fire, that many ages cannot recruit, what a few days subverted and destroyed.
[unspec 1] And here we may take notice of the waste and the spoil, that this fire made. In some places of this fired City, we might see the richest wines licked up, which now could neither refresh the heart of the sorrowful, nor yet gratify the excesses of the intemperate. In other parts of the City we might discern the oils swimming up and down the streets, and that promise mentioned, Deut. 7. 13. fully inverted, The Lord now cursed both our wine and our oil. Now the oils made not our medicine, but our misery, not our faces to shine, but our eyes to weep. Our rich household stuff, invaluable wares, rare apparel, stuffed coffers, crammed bags, were speedily and unavoidably turned into ashes. How many precious Drugs and Odoriferous spices, made London a burnt sacrifice, and went up in flames as so much incense, but not to appease, but evidence God's wrath. How many wholesome Medicines, powerful Antidotes, rich Cordials, rare compounds of the Apothecary served only the fury of this fire, not to heal, but to heat it, and to turn it into a more violent flame. The riches of the ware-house, and the braveries of the shop, the wealth of the coffer, and the beauty of the house, nay, the accurateness of the structure did only supply these devouring flames. And as Sardanapalus made up his pile, and so burnt up himself and the pile together; so a great part of London's wealth was consumed, as in one common pile and heap. Here all foreign commodities met in the same waste; nor were the Spanish wines too sweet, nor the French linnens too fine, nor the Flanders Arras too rich, nor the Italian silks too soft, nor the Persian Carpets too noble to be burned and consumed. This tremendous fire did not only spoil London, but rob the creation. This noble City being the Mart where the riches of all Nations were braught: But the losses of London in this fire, are fitter for tears then description.
[unspec 10] And what loss befell learning in this prodigious and destructive fire? Learning it is the eye of the world, the sublimation of reason, the hand-maid of grace, and knows no adversary but purblind ignorance; and no wonder if Beauty be not caressed by a blind person. This admired learning, the glory of the old Philosophers, the light and happiness of later times, suffered an inexpressible loss in this stupendous fire. Now learned Volumes which were brought forth by the acute pains and sharp travels of the Authors, which cost so much expense of time, and so much waste of strength, only gratified the rage of this mercyless Element of fire. The stores of the diligent Stationer, and the learned piles of the curious student, were martyred in these flames. In this flaming conquest fell many rare Authors in several Languages, in all Arts and sciences, many admirable Tracts and Treatises of Theology, which is the soul of learning, and animates all other literature. In this rout fell the Fathers, who led the Van, the Schoolmen which were in the main body, and the Modern Divines, who brought up the Rear, and all these were arrested by the flames, without bail or main-prize. The Popes pretence to the temporal and spiritual Sword, could not rescue Pontifician writers, nor the Protestant privilege of having truth on their side, could not prevail for saving their useful and learned Tracts from devouring burnings. One argument of fire answered all popish cavils and Pr •• estant pleas. How many learned systems of Physic, Philosophy, Law, History, Mathematics, besides many precious Manuscripts (till then preserved, like so many leaves of the Sybils) were bu • yed in the ruin of London. The Polyglotte Bible, though speaking in so many languages, yet could be understood in no •• , nor be heard to obtain quarter from this fie • y slaughter. Quis • aliafando temperet à lachrymis? Who can be called off from pouring out water, as the Israelites at Mizpah? Nay, the sacred Scriptures escaped not this ruinous desolation: Bibles were burned, though not an Iota of God's word shall fall to the ground. Surely Jesuitical rage and malice may be here easily discerned; though behind the curtain, and our bodies and Bibles were principally aimed at in this diabolical shot; and not unlikely, but he who plundered the Library at Heidelburg, envied, and happily now hath martyred the Books at London. But these secrets shall be canvassed and judged in the day, when we shall all appear before the tribunal of Jesus Christ. But might it not here be expostulated, as once Abraham, Will the Lord destroy the righteous with the wicked? If wanton Poems, idle Romances, profane Comedies, lying Legends, heretical Treatises, scandalous and pernicious Pamphlets, if these shall make a Bone-fire; yet must learned Commentaries, practical Tracts, select Sermons, nay, blessed and heavenly Bibles be exposed to the flames? Surely this was the emblem of the extremist wrath: For what is the consequence of this Book martyrdom, but the putting out of one of the eyes of Religion, and to taste of the severity of that threat, the sword: saith the Prophet, Zach. 11. 17. so we may say, The fire hath been upon our right eye. But in a word, we have lost many precious treasures in holy and good books in this prodigious fire; we have now four left to study.
1. The Book of the Creatures.
2. The Book of Providence.
3. The Book of the Scriptures.
4. The Book of our own hearts. And in these studies let us take up our delight, and let them be our meditation day and night.
[unspec 11] And that which is very remarkable: The firing of London was not confined to the City, but the sparks flew abroad, and scorched the whole Nation. Who had any considerable interest in England, and none in London? more or less? As all Rivers run into the Sea, and all the lines of the circumference meet in the Center, so did the interests of the most eminent persons in the whole Nation meet in London: who had not a share in this great ship which is now blown up? If the Tenant lost his Goods, the Landlord lost his House; and they who had no immediate or personal interest, yet had they not relations, Parents, Brethren, Children, &c. engaged in the common loss? The wound in the head makes the whole body sick, and this is most true in our deplorable case; Nay, the interest of all Nations had some share in London's loss, the Factors suffered in the Merchants damage, and foreign correspondents were not a little disadvantaged by the sufferings of their Traders and Employees in this famous City; the interests of all varieties in England were tied together, like the tails of Samson's Foxes, and firebrands were put into the midsts of these tails, to burn up the fruits of Divine blessing, and the labors of ourselves and Progenitors. This stroke of London's fire, was not only given to the head, but to the heart of England, and put an eclipse upon the glory of all interests.
[unspec 12] Nor must the season of this terrible fire be omitted, without a Selah, a note of observation: It was when we had few Friends at home, and many Enemies abroad; this fire was adding affliction to affliction: at the same time there was blood and slaughter abroad, when there was fire and flames at home. And no doubt but flaming London filled the insultations of the Enemy; they, like Nero, were playing upon their musical Instruments, when poor London was posting to ruin: London had too much pride before the fire, and too little pity after it; she might complain in the Churches language, Lam. 3. 14. She was a derision to the people, and their song all the day; and go on in her moans thus accented by the Prophet, Dan. 9. 12. God hath brought upon me a great evil, for under the whole Heaven hath not been done, as hath been done upon Jerusalem. In this fire God struck with both hands, with a foreign Sword, and a domestic flame: There was fear on our Coasts, and fire in our Bowels; our Wound was open, and God pours, not suppling Oil, or healing Balm, but corroding Vinegar into it; it was a sign our Physician was angry.
[unspec 13] And what vigorous intercessions were made for London, both before and in the burning? What strong cries were put up, that God would save dear London from Sword and fire? In the very heat of this Judgment, what wrestlings with God for the abatement of it! and that in the midst of judgment, he would remember mercy! but God seemed here to take up his old resolve, Though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the City, they should only deliver their own Souls by their righteousness; they should not quench a flame, or save in house. O tremendous Judgment! Prayers could not divert the fire, nor Tears quench it: the flames were above our attempts, and the Lord was against our entreaties, he was now truly angry with our prayers, Psal. 80. 4. When the Lord was ready to strike Israel, prayers prevailed, and Moses held his hand, Exod. 32. 14. And when the Angel was ready to strike Jerusalem, prayers prevailed, and God repents of the stroke, 2 Sam. 24. 16, 17. But no intercession can screen London from the consuming flames; but Divine vengeance rides triumphantly in the midst of its spoils, and Victories. The lifting up of hands could not prevent the falling down of houses, but the Incense of Prayer was a vain and insignificant Oblation, Isa. 1. 13.
[unspec 14] This dreadful fire blasted London in all its varieties, it seized upon its Ornaments:
1. The Royal Exchange, which was matter of admiration to all, but especially to strangers. How many Foreigners, when they beheld this noble Structure, were struck with amazement, As the Disciples were in beholding the Temple, Mat. 24. 1, 2. In this famous Bourse persons met from all parts of the World; Spanish, French, Dutch, Portuguezes, nay, Turks, and others from the most remote parts of the Universe; here was the general Convention of Europe in their trafficking representatives: As London was the glory of England, so the Exchange was the glory of London; Here were Factors for the Worlds commerce, here was the conflux of Trade and Merchandise, and it was full Sea every Noon: But this magnificent structure is fallen into rubbish, and it is much to be suspected, that it was over-laden with pride and fantasticalness in the upper part of it, with craft and covetousness in the middle part of it, with fraud and deceitfulness in the lower part of it; and therefore the Ensurance Office which was in it, could not ensure it from devouring flames; And how did this flourishing Structure vanish on a sudden, as if it had been only a bright apparition?
2. Another Ornament of the City, (not to mention those which are inferior, and so innumerable) was the Guild-hall; and this Structure fell in the common ruin: this noble pile of building, so ancient, so useful, so majestic, so unparalleled, was founded about 360 years ago (as some compute it) and how was it laid waste in one day! This magnificent Hall was a place of Judicature, the honorable reception of the Magistrates of the City, and no less than nine Courts sat in it in their seasons; no Building did make London look more like itself, viz. The Metropolis of three Nations, then this stately None-such: It was our English Capital; and that it could not be preserved, spake our provocation high, and God's indignation hot. But our London's Exchequer is wholly impoverished of its beauty, and it is buried in its ruinous and silent ashes.
[unspec 2] This dreadful fire seized upon the conveniencies of the City. The Halls which belonged to the several Companies, these were decent and convenient places for the several Societies to meet in; here stocks were reserved for the poor of the same Companies, and so seasonable, and comfortable succors were carefully provided to supply the decays which were incident to each Society in their several members. Many of these Halls were famous and eminent Structures, not to be paralleled in any Nation: and here the several Societies met to preserve Love and Amity among themselves; but this destructive fire level'd these beauteous Buildings into rubbish and ashes; and so the Lord in this Judgment, did not only blast the beauty, and eclipse the glory, but melt the cement and solder of London, and so untwist our societies by destroying the places of their Convention. Now our Companies are scattered, and know not the places of their Courts or Festivals.
3. A rare conveniency of this City was the famous Zion College, the eminent receptacle of Divines, where the Students had their Chambers, the Scholars had their Books, and the poor had their bread. This stately Edifice containing within the circuit of it, several Alms-houses for the poor of both Sexes, the privilege of a richly fraught Library, was in a few hours buried in its ruins. Indeed this was a place of such Renown, that many were pleased to call London, the third University of England. Here the Muses, and the Graces dwelt together: and here Doctor White the worthy Founder of, and Mr. Simpson a bountiful Benefactor to this lovely Edifice, left their renowned Names to be venerated to Posterity. But this inexorable fire had no pity upon the cries of the indigent Alms-folks, nor any respect to the pleasing retirements of the industrious Student: Nor would it spare that rich Cabinet of Learning, the beautiful Library; nay the Chains by which the Books were fettered to the places, could not keep the multitudes of them from running into ashes; but learned, and so precious leaves were blown down to destruction.
[unspec 3] Nay this devouring fire attached the necessaries of the City:
1. The several Prisons, which bound Malefactors to their good behavior, and pinioned them from rapine and violence: This fire made the Saint weep, and the Thief rejoice, expecting his Chains to be loosened and taken off, not by the File, but the flame; These Cages of unclean Birds were opened, not by the innocence of the Prisoner, but by the indignation of the Almighty. We had taken our range in sin, and God seemed to say, Let sin take its range: God in this fire seemed to pierce Doves, and leave Vultures to the prey. Newgate, that colder Hell, was now opened; and Bridewel, that lenitive of the heat of lust, was now broken up; the Debtors in Ludgate now paid their Debts, not by composition, but by conflagration; the death of London, not of themselves, paid their Debts. And the two Counters where the Miscellany of vice used to meet, gave up their dead in a fright from an approaching flame. Nay the Sessions-house, that solemn Seat of Justice, and unbiased Righteousness, where sin and villainy received their just and due sentence of condemnation, was turned into ashes; That God seemed to spit in the face of our very Justice, as despising our Righteousness; Our disobedience to himself making him neglect our severities to others: That God made a Goal-delivery not in love, but in wrath.
[unspec 4] This prodigious fire seized upon the Sanctuaries of the City. Those Reverend Structures, wherein many fervent prayers have been offered up to God, many religious assemblies have been convened for holy worship, wherein many excellent and soul-converting Sermons have been preached and delivered; these solemn places of the holy congregation are now turned into a ruinous heap; so that now we may speak in the Psalmists language, Psal. 74. 8. This fire hath burnt up almost all the Synagogues of God in the City: And surely whatever scorn many cast upon these places called Churches, the usual retirements of the Saints on God's blessed day, to meet with their beloved; these being folded up in ruin, put an emphasis upon divine displeasure, the faithful Ministers of Christ never refusing those decent conveniencies to break the bread of life in: But our comely places for our sacred assemblies are dropt into confusion, and now there is no difference between the Pew and the Pulpit.
[unspec 5] This dreadful fire seized upon the Nurseries of our City:
1. The Nurseries of Charity, our Hospitals: the Renowned Christ-Church fell at this stroke, the worthy benefaction of our English Josiah, the Excellent Edward the sixth. Here the Children of indigent Parents had clothes for their backs, bread for their bellies, learning for their minds, and careful Governors undertook, not only a pious but a parental charge. Rare was the contrivance, and quick the spring of this eminent and stupendous piece of charity. When poor Parents, which labored under the affliction of dry breasts, could bring their Children to Christ-Church Hospital, and then they were fully provided for, and lay not only in the bosom of a careful Governor, but oftentimes they fell into the lap of the Muses, and many of them in their seasons changed an Hospital for an University: But this famous Hospital for the most part is consumed; this pool of Bethesda is in a great measure dried up; and this Jonah 's guord is withered, which kept many from the scorching of extreme poverty. Now we may take up that complaint of our Savior, The Foxes have holes, and the Birds of the air have nests, Mat. 8. 20. but the poor Hospital boys have not where to lay their head, for their usual nest is burnt.
2. The Nurseries of Learning fell in these flames. This fire of London, like the persecution of the Apostate Julian, shut up our School doors; it destroyed the famous Merchant Taylours School, Paul's School, Mercers Chapel, and the School in Christ Church, those Seminaries of earlier, and rudimental learning. By this fire, there was a Cross went before our Alphabet. Religion and Learning are as the Sun and the Moon, the light and brightness of every place; but now the Cages are broken, and the young Birds are flown away: The younger Scholars have lost their Schools, and the elder their Books. Schools are the Gardens where the tender Plants grow; and from them, the most profound Ministers who watch over our souls, the best read Lawyers who defend our Estates, the ablest Physicians who consult the weal of our bodies, all receive their first rudiments: The fairest Plants once grew in these Nurseries of polite and profitable learning; and hence the deepest Scholars had their praeliminary knowledge. But these useful Structures are now rolled up in destruction; these Universities initial are laid in ashes; and now there is no difference between the Masters desk and the Schoolars Form. The breasts of the Muses which fed young and infantile Scholars, are now made dry by this desolating judgment.
[unspec 6] The fire seized upon the fences of the City. Now the gates of Zion mourn, Lam. 1. 4. And London feels the dint of Babylon's threat, Jer. 51. 58. Her high places shall be burnt with fire. God in this judgment spoiled the City, not only of its beauty and ornament, but of its strength and security; we have not our Gates to keep him in, or to keep an Enemy out. Thus God will not have us safe; but when we have made ourselves naked by our sin, he will keep us naked by his judgments; God hath shattered our Gates in pieces, which was the peculiar prerogative of a City; London now in a great measure hath lost its Name: God hath fired the lock of our strength, and London cannot shake herself as at other times.
[unspec 15] Lastly, That which accents this judgment is, the hand of the Lord was in it; Not only man's head, but God's hand; supposing the Jesuit and the Papist were in the Conspiracy, yet they were the Rod of God's anger, or else who took away courage, spirit, life and activity from the Citizens at that time? who melted their spirits like water, that they were as a Dove without heart? Hos. 7. 11. Who caused the fire to burn against, as well as with the wind? Nay, who determined the place where the fire began, in the midst of Pitch, Tar, Oil, Hemp, Powder, and all provocations of flames and ruin? Let us then take it for granted, some perfidious Engineer of Rome hatched the plot, yet it could never have been fledged, had not God's indignation given wing unto it.
And besides all this, we must attribute to God the Sovereignty, and the dominion over the fire, as well as other Elements and Creatures; and here let us a little consider the influence God hath over the fire.
[unspec 1] God he kindles the fire, Job 15. 34. He blows up the first spark. As wicked men are stubble to him, Isa. 5. 24. so the whole world is as thatch, and he can when he pleaseth set it all in a flame. He that drowned the world with water, he can easily consume and destroy it by fire.
[unspec 2] God inflames and increases the fire, Psal. 18. 8. He creates the first spark, and then blows it into a flame. If Nebuchadnezzar can heat the furnace seven times hotter then it was before, how much more can the great Jehovah enrage the conflagration, and turn the fire of a house or a hamlet into the fire of a City?
[unspec 3] God terminates the fire. And he who saith to the proud waves, hitherto shall ye go and no further, speaks the same language to the devouring flames; the most raging and triumphant fire shall not exceed its limited Commission.
[unspec 4] God divideth the fire, Psal. 29. 7. That it shall burn this way, and not another; God's pity can soften the beam, and his wrath can sear the rafter, that the fire shall not catch the one, but seize upon the other; the fire only seizeth upon those precincts which God hath designed to the flames.
[unspec 5] God makes the fire destructive, Ezek. 15. 7. It shall burn and consume, and there shall be no remedy; the passion and heat of the fire is from the anger of the Lord. That the fire is merciless, is because God is full of indignation.
[unspec 6] And God can make the fire beneficial; that it shall not rage but relieve, and that it shall warm and not destroy; he makes the fire to purge, and not to punish. Thus the Pillar of fire was Israel's guide, and the fiery furnace the three Children's Arboret; his repentings can kindle, as well as his wrath: and he can be a wall of fire about us for our security, as well as send a judgment of fire among us for our calamity.
[unspec 7] God amplifies the fire, and makes it not only a domestical, but a popular and national judgment; the spreading of the fire for general loss and epidemical ruin, is from, and only from the Lord; the Village is set on fire, and the City by the same hand. Man in his most extreme malice shoots with wet powder, if God counter-mand, but his anger makes effectual every destructive design.
[unspec 8] God permits the fire, Jer. 39. 8. He suffers an insolent Enemy, or a perfidious misereant to turn Cities or Houses into flames. The Soldiers fire-brand, by which was fired the famous Temple of Jerusalem, was commissionated by a divine command. And God restrained Popish cruelty which was nourished and evidenced in the Gunpower Treason.
[unspec 9] God can stop the fire, Dan. 3. 27. and alter the very nature of it. The flames shall not be our scourg • , but our shelter, and become our walk, and not our woe.
[unspec 10] God can make use of the fire, as his particular instrument to afflict a sinful Nation or City, Amos 7. 4. And thus he did to London. Whatever miscreant made the ball, God threw the fire, and turned this famous, but sinful City, into ashes. This then is the sharpness of this judgment; the hope of Israel, and the Savior thereof, Jer. 14. 8. hath laid London waste, and to accent his wrath, he did it upon his own blessed day; and will you know the reason, it was suggested in the beginning of the Chapter: We made light of his Sabbath by our vanity, looseness and profaneness, and God hath set a mark upon it, by firing on this day one of the best Cities in the world: We forgot his Memento by which he prefaces and begins his Commandment for the Sabbath; and therefore we shall feel his Memorandum even unto future Generations.
CHAP. LI. A second Decad of Arguments, to re-enforce the same persuasion, that we would keep holy the Lord's day.
IT was not without a mystery of Providence, that God should give the Decalogue upon Mount Sinai in the midst of fire and smoke, a terrible appearance; was it not to foretell the severities of God, which he would execute upon those who should gainsay his ten words by neglect, and disobedience? But he hath corrected the violation of none of them with more sharpness and indignation, then that which relates to the Sabbath, as hath been abundantly discovered. But now that I may leave nothing unattempted to court the Reader to a due observation of God's holy day, I shall draw the line from another point of the circumference, meeting still in the same Center. Other Arguments I shall use to press conscience to the obedience of Christ in a holy keeping of his own blessed day.
[Arg. 1] Let us take notice that God hath embroidered this holy day with the riches of grace: Upon this day God hath caused light to shine out of darkness, and brought many a dead Lazarus out of his grave; and of stones hath raised up Children to Abraham, Mat. 3. 9. Of Lions he hath made lambs to God, and out of sinful men hath converted thousands to the faith of Christ. Upon this day God hath made the bland to see, the deaf to hear, and dumb to speak, nay, and the lame to walk in the ways of his holy Commandments. This is the day of God's wonder-working, the sphere wherein his free grace shines the brightest. Whereas the works of the first creation were all done upon six days, and none upon the seventh, which was then the Sabbath day; all the works the new creation are ordinarily done upon the Sabbath day, rather then upon any of the six days. This hath been the Birth day of many spiritual Kings and Priests, Rev. 1. 6. The Psalmist saith, Psal. 87. 5. And of Zion it shall be said, this and that man was born therein: And of the Lord's day it may be said, this and that man was born therein. O blessed day! Millions of Saints in heaven are now blessing this day of God, and blessing God for this day. I read of one who cursed the day of his natural birth, Job 3. 3. But I never read of any who cursed the day of his new birth. This is the day of rescuing the prey from the mighty, the day of opening the Prison door and setting the captive free. This is a day much to be observed to the Lord, for bringing souls out of their spiritual Egypt, out of the house of sinful bondage. This blessed day hath been the wedding day of many souls, the day of their espousals to Christ, when the knot hath been so knit, that it hath not been loosened to eternity.
Thus God hath magnified his own day, and shall not we sanctify it? Shall he put a beauty, and shall we put a scar upon it? Shall he prosper, and shall we profane it? His bounty invites our purity, all the badges of honor God puts upon it, only bespeaks our holiness: It is a princely day, and we come to Princes with reverence and Veneration. God's wonderful works on this day, must meet with our spiritual operations, and our serious devotions: For us to sport jocularly to recreate ourselves needlessly, or to demean ourselves slightly on that day wherein God acts gloriously; what is it, but in effect to say, we will not have the Lord of the Sabbath to reign over us?
[Arg. 2] The good observation of the Lord's day may influence the whole week: Usually the tenor of the week follows the temper of the Sabbath. If we have been conscientious on God's day, we will be careful on the week day: But as Reverend Calvin observes,
He who keeps the Lord's day with the most strict and and accurate observation, shall find
1. Most blessing upon his labors.
2. Most holiness in heart and life.
3. Most comfort and joy in his own soul.
4. Most sweetness in death.
5. Most glory and rest in Heaven, when there remains that everlasting Sabbatism for all the people of God. It is a good observation of a learned man,
And truly, the holy observation of the Sabbath much speaks the temper of a Christian. However the week fares as the Sabbath doth. Good Sabbaths usher in good weeks, and are the morning stars of an approaching day: when we hear truth on the Sabbath, digesting it by prayer and meditation, when we put up strong cries to God with fervor and devotion, when we enjoy Ordinances, our spiritual meals on a Sabbath with appetite and satisfaction; this will cast a chain upon our corrupt hearts, and will be bellows to our future zeal, will supply us with holy meditations, which will be as so many bright gleams, and will put a heat upon our affections, and make us every way act the Saint all the ensuing week. As Queen Mary said when she lost Callais, When I am dead, open me, and you shall find Callais written upon my heart: So the Christian who hath been very serious on God's day, you shall find Sabbath written upon his heart all the following week. The seent of a conscientious Sabbath is not easily lost, nor is the warmth of it so speedily chilled; souls drenched in Sabbath Ordinances like vessels seasoned with excellent liquors, they long retain the taste. The believer is disciplined upon a Sabbath, and we do not easily forget our Education. A Sermon kindly entertained on the Lord's day, will be faithfully improved on the week day. Our best Christians were ever strictest on the Sabbath. Those tastes of love we then sense and gust, will abide, and not lightly wear off, these will lie upon the heart when the Sabbath is over. Let us keep Sabbaths well, we shall be better in our shops, better in our worldly affairs, better in our families, better in our discourses, better in our converses, more righteous in our dealings, more exemplary in our walkings, more vigorous in our duties all the week following. After a well passed Sabbath, we shall more watch our hearts, more keep our ground, and withstand temptations, and the deceits of our Calling, which happily are quilted into the very nature of it, shall not so much tempt, as exasperate and provoke us. The whole week must be spent holy to prepare us the better for the Sabbath, and the Sabbath must be spent h • lie, the better to influence the week; as the beginning with God on the morning of a Sabbath, may influence the whole Sabbath; so the beginning with God in the morning of the week, viz. The Lord's day, may exceedingly influence and prosper the whole week. He who on the Sabbath hath been much in the work of heaven, cannot easily be much in the dross of earth, or the dregs of sin on the time of the week. Ordinances, like clocks, when they have struck leave a sound and a noise for a considerable time; nor can a Sermon carefully heard, be presently shaken out of the heart. The word when received in the love thereof, is fire in the bones, Jer. 20. 9. and not heat in the face; an inward warmth which is permanent, and not only a color which is transient: The tastes, the impressions, the power and spirituality of a well-observed Sabbath, cannot without much difficulty, strong assaults of Satan, powerful workings of a corrupt heart be disanulled and eradicated. Hearts steeped in holy Ordinances will not soon lose their perfume. It is very true, our slight deportment in Ordinances makes them superficial, and so soon slide off; and they who pass over the Sabbath loosely, will spend the week profligately; they who spend it formally, will spend the week vainly: But a serious composure of spirit on God's holy day, will blow off the froth of the ensuing week. Ignatius (as hath been suggested) calls the Lord's day, the Queen of days; and according to the example of the Queen, inferior and subordinate days will be composed. The endeavor of every Christian should be, that his practices in secret, in his calling, in his company on the week day, should be answerable to the great privileges he enjoyed, and to the rich grace he received on the Lord's day. One well observes,
[Arg. 3] We put on our best Attire upon a S •• b • th, and why sh • uld we not be in our best spiritual Dress? Shall we deck our Bodies, and neglect our Souls? Shall we stand before God on his own day, with Bodies dressed with all art and curiosity, but with Souls undressed, and unprepared, ruffled with worldly thoughts, unwashed by repentance, all things h • nging careless and loose by formality, only painted over, and daubed with pretence and hypocrisy? The f • rma • ist on a Sabbath might correct himself by his Ga •• , and the exactness of his Attire. Surely it is an high blemish to Religion, to be curious in our fashion, and to be careless in our devotion, and to spend more time on a Sabbath, to set the D •• ss, •• curl the Hair, and to fit the Garment, than to inflame Devotion, to compose the Heart, and to trim the Lamp, to meet with the Bridegroom of our Souls: Shall not a piece of Eternity be as richly attired on the Lord's day, as a piece of dust and clay? Why should not the Soul wear the Ornaments of Grace, put on the Jewels of Faith and Zeal, be dressed up with holy thoughts, with heavenly desires, with spiritual aims, with steady resolutions for further increases of grace and sanctity, as well as the sinking dying body, a crumbling lump of earth, be adorned with all the garish modes of art and bravery? Nothing more uncouth, that when the body is only the plain case of a precious Soul, that it should be decked on a Sabbath, with all the setting forth of costly and lovely Ornament; but the immortal Soul should want its trimming, to make it look comely in the eyes of its Beloved: when the Body is the fine cover of a deformed Soul, what is this, but to shovel dung into a rich Coffer, or to put Pebbles into an Ebony Casket? A serious Christian would more mind the trimming of the Lamp, than the setting of the Dress; or else the setting of the Dress should more mind him of the trimming of the Lamp.
[Arg. 4] Let us consider what a rare privilege it is, to enjoy the Sabbath of the Lord: To keep a Sabbath is not our work, but our rest; not our service, but our liberty; not our task, but our triumph. The Sanctuary is the Souls Paradise, and Ordinances are the Tree of life in this Garden of Eden; O then let us not turn this grace into wantonness. Kings do not spurn their Crowns, nor use their Scepters to turn up Turffs in the field. The Mariner makes not use of the Deck of his Ship to be a Stage to act on. Thus Antipodes to reason and religion do profane persons act, when they slight over the momentous Sabbath of God: shall God honor us with a Sabbath, and shall we provoke him on a Sabbath? Great Estates amplify the prodigality of the Heir, and make his sin more odious and shameful. Our Sabbaths are our seasons of grace, our spiritual Mart, our Pisgah sight of Canaan, our Term-time to follow our Suit for glory and eternity, and to profane and formalize away these acceptable days of life and salvation; what is it, but to throw Jewels upon the Dunghil, and to disinherit the Soul of its primogeniture, as if its concerns were not considerable, and of little importance? How can we do the work of Earth or Hell upon this heavenly day! If we will be working, Let us work out our salvation with fear and trembling, Phil. 2. 12. Our Sabbaths are mercy, rich mercy, costly mercy, soul mercy, the finest of the Wheat: Let us then solemnly observe them, and dextrously improve them, remembering that he who had five talents, gained five more, Mat. 25. 20. The Viceroy whose trust is great, and charge more honorable, he is more active and vigilant, then every petty Officer whose Precincts are narrow and inconsiderable. O that Christians would keep holy God's blessed day: What is it, O devout Souls, but a daybreak of eternal brightness? And let us not forget, that as God will not hold him guiltless, who takes his Name in vain, so neither him, who spends his day in vain: Those surely are foolish Children who play by their Candle, and those frantic Christians, who frivolously pass over that holy day, wherein they enter into the suburbs of the holy City, and begin that work of praising, pleasing, and enjoying God, which shall be the Employment of Eternity.
[Arg. 5] In the holy keeping of the Sabbath there is premium in opere, a reward in the work. What would the Lord have thee to do on a Sabbath, but only enjoy himself? Our sweat on a Sabbath is spent only in hearing from God in the preaching of the word, in flying to God in holy prayer and supplication, or contemplating on God in devout meditation, or feasting with God at his own Table; so that in the whole management of a Sabbath, there is more honor than burden, more profit than pain, more delight than disgust: The works of a Sabbath, are the works of Heaven; and the Angels are not weary, nor the glorified Saints tired with singing Hall • lujahs. On a Sabbath we feed on Manna, and the fat things of the Sanctuary; we drink of the Brook in the way, and of Wine on the Lees well refined, Isa. 25. 6. we carry Benjamins Sack with the Cup in the mouth of it, Gen. 44. 2. we are spiritual Publicans, and take custom of Heaven. All which aggravates Sabbath-profanation; it would be strange to see a Lutanist, who hath a rare Lute, and who is dextrous in playing on the Instrument, to spend his time in breaking the strings of his Lute: What less doth the formal, or profane person do, who enjoys the heavenly opportunity of a Sabbath, and loses his good wind by sloth or neglect, and slights over those rare duties, which like Samson's Lion, are sweet in the strong. Trace a Sabbath-work, and is it anything else but gaining knowledge, treasuring up truth, wrestling with God for pardon, grace, and assurance, visiting our Beloved, and driving the great Bargain of Eternity? And for which of these good works must the Sabbath be profaned, or thrown away? If Philosophers say of Virtue, It is its own reward; is it not much more true, of holy worship, spiritual communion, converse with Heaven, and those pleasing delights, which are the sweet employment of a Sabbath? Therefore to pollute this day, or to trifle it away, what is it, but to bring an evil report on Canaan, a Land flowing with milk and honey?
[Argum. 6] And it would be seriously considered, Sabbaths are upon the wing, and they will not long continue to us: We cannot say of richest Sabbaths, as once Christ said of poor persons, the Sabbaths ye have always with you, Mat. 26. 11. The Lord's day is a triumphant, but a transient mercy: Now we enjoy these blessed Sabbaths and holy Ordinances; we know not how soon the Songs of Zion may be turned into howling, Lam. 1. 4, 16. And Icha • od may be written upon our weekly jubilies: We know not how soon God's wrath, or our own death, may hide th • se things which belong to our peace, from our eyes. O then let us improve our Sabbaths, our sweet seasons, our Summer-time, our divine Harvest; for if we do not gather grace on this day, what shall we have to lay out on the week-day? Or what shall we have to spend on a death-b • d, when we are stepping into another World? We know the Water-man must observe his wind and tide, and when they serve, then he throws off his Doublet and bestirs himself, left he should fall short of his Creek or Haven. It concerns us to mind Sabbaths, and to sanctify them to the Lord; then the gases of the Spirit blow fair, then the waters of the Sanctuary run right for the Port to which we are bound: but if these heavenly Opportunities slide away without our serious improvement, we must with Esau seek the Blessing carefully with tears, but it shall not accrue unto us. The Musician plays his Lesson, while the Instrument is in tune: let us ripen in grace while the Sabbath shines, and Sabbath -showers continue. Our Savior bids us work while it is day, John 9. 4. Surely this principally points at the Sabbath-day, which is the Souls day: It is but a few Sabbaths more, nay, it may be, not one more, and we shall go down to our silent Graves. Our life is uncertain, not a Sun, but a Vapour, Jam. 4. 14. and can our Sabbaths be sure and steady? Our Sabbaths are our Tide for Heaven; and when the Tide is past, there is no rowing to the Port. When the Traveler observes the Sun is declining, and draws towards setting, then he spurs up his Beast, and speeds his pace, lest the Night over-take him. Our Sabbaths are setting, and the Gospel-Sun is low, is speeding to a disappearance; Let us then keep holy these days, and carefully make the best advantage of them, let us neither stain their beauty by our profaneness, nor detract from their bounty by our neglect and formality, lest the shadows of death over-take us; and then who shall remember God, or work for his Soul in the Pit or the Grave, where we shall be lodged, and awake no more till the Resurrection?
[Arg. 7] But though the Lord's day be fleet and swift as to us, yet it is permanent in its self, and in its duration calls for our devotion. We admire not a Candle so much as we do the Sun, and one reason is, because the Candle wastes, but the Sun endures: The light of our Sabbath is not a transient blaze, but a constant light, which will continue till the consummation of all things; and God hath folded up all things in change or dissolution. Now Permanency is a character of excellency; Gold is only refined in the same fire where dress is consumed: The Priesthood of Melchizedek was more excellent than that of Aaron, because it continued forever, Heb. 7. 17. So the Sabbath of Christians is more excellent than the Sabbath of the Jews, because that found a grave, but this shall find none. To our Sabbath it may be said, in comparison with all the Jews Sabbaths, They shall perish, but thou remainest; they shall all wax old as doth a Garment, as a Vesture shalt thou roll them up, and they shall be changed, but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. To our Sabbath all the Powers of Earth and H • ll shall never put a period; it is a durable, and therefore an honorable Ordinance: And shall God honor it, and shall we deface it? Shall he promote it, and shall we profane it? Shall he make it a lasting Ordinance, and set it up as a Marble Pillar in the Church? and shall we write froth and vanity upon it, as if it was a Tombstone? Our Sabbath is no flying Ceremony, or transient Rite, which hath the worm of Judaism at the root of it, which will eat it out in time, but it is a stable institution which God will have sanctified with all exactness. The Persians Laws were irrevocable, and therefore the more venerable; and the transgression of but one of them, threw Daniel into the Lions Den, Dan. 6. 8, 12. So the Law of our Sabbath, it is solemn and solid, not subject to decay, or of a perishing nature, which earnestly presses the sanctification, and amplifies exceedingly the pollution of it. It is not so great 〈◊〉 to break a piece of glass, as to break a piece of Gold; 〈◊〉 ••• eness is the blemish of everything. Leases the shorter 〈◊〉 are, the more inconsiderable. The life of nature is no w • y to be compared with th • life of grace, not only in point of sweetness, but du • ation. Sin upon the Lord's day, is not like •• rase upon a picture, which is a fading paint, but like a flaw in a Jewel, it is a more durable blemish, and a more praejudicial debasement. God h • th not only stamped his Name upon our Sabbath, but something of his Nature; there is a kind of eternity engraven upon it; and therefore the violation of it by sin, neglect, or vanity, must needs be a reduplicate impiety.
[Arg. 8] Let us likewise take notice, that this precious institution of the Sabbath was the first-born of Ordinances; it drew its first breath in Paradise, (as hath been fully discovered already;) this was the Reuben of God's institutions, the morning star, and the rising Sun of Divine appointments. Now the Sabbath being the first-born Ordination w ch enriched the world, it is the more pleasing and acceptable to the Lord, and the due observation of it will assuredly be the more grateful to him. God remembers the kindness of Israel's youth, Jer. 2. 2. the initials of his obedience were most pleasing. We put buds into our bosoms. The Sabbath was from the infancy of the world, and therefore our careful keeping of it, must needs delight the Father. The first born was always to be dedicated to God; the first born of Man, and the first born of Beasts, Exod. 13. 2. The first fruit of Corn, Deut. 18. 4. Nay, the first of all the fruits of the Earth, Deut. 26. 2. Nay, God will not only have the first born of man's person, but the first fruits of his labors, Exod. 23. 16. And God is so pleased with the first of everything, that he ordains a feast of first fruits, Exod. 34. 22. And a sacrifice of the first fruits, God calls a sweet savor unto himself, Levite. 23. 17, 18. Nay, so grateful were the first fruits to the Lord, that he would not only have the first born of the Sons of Israel, and the firstlings of the Herds and the Flocks, Nehem. 10. 36. The first fruits of the ground, nay, of the very trees, Nehem. 10. 35. But likewise the first fruits of the very dough, Nehem. 10. 37. And Christ himself is called, the first fruits of them that sleep, 1 Cor. 15. 20, 23. And Israel his chosen people are called, the first fruits of his increase, Jer. 2. 3. and converts, the best of men, are the first fruits of his creatures, Jam. 1. 18. Surely then, the holy Sabbath, the first fruits of Divine Ordinances, must needs be dear to God; and unholy practices on that day must the more provoke him; and holy duties sincerely acted on that day; must the more please him and holy hearts on this day must the more delight him; and holy graces in their most vigorous exercise on this day must the more be acceptable to him: the Sabbath was his primitive institution: nor must it be forgotten, the Lord's day, Our Christian Sabbath, is the first day of the week, and was in time, the first day of the world, wherein the light received its production, and the blessed heavens their being, Gen. 1. 1, 3. Now then, let this emphasis which God hath put upon the Sabbath, engage us to a stricter and more wary behavior on it, least the order be inverted, as our Savior notes, Mark 10. 31. And that Sabbath, which was the first in God's institution, be the last in our condemnation, and this darling ordinance procure a damning sentence upon us in the general assizes of the world.
[Arg. 9] The sanctification of the Sabbath will be profitable to our outward estate. For the more conscionable we are in sanctifying the Sabbath, the greater blessing we may exp • ct from God; which divine blessing, the wise man tells us, Prov. 10. 22. maketh rich. This piece of godliness gives us right and title to the promises of this life, 1 Tim. 4. 4. He who hath been with God upon the Sabbath day, God will be with him on the week day; and he who hath sanctified God in his heart, when he hath been agitating the affairs of heaven, God will assuredly bless the works of his hand, when he is providing the things of earth. It is our Savior's own promise, If we first seek the Kingdom of Heaven, I may add, if we begin the week with God, on the first day thereof, all these outward things shall be added to us, Mat. 6. 33. as a surplusage of divine love. The best way to get estates for ourselves, is to keep Sabbaths to God, and to inquire after the blessing where he hath lodged it, (viz.) in preserving his Sabbath pure and unblemished, Isa. 56. 2. It is very observable, that when God had perfected the Creation, and put man into his tenement of Paradise, he then ordains the Sabbath, to show, that all creature comforts are only attendants on this holy day; and if Adams sensual delight, had given way to his spiritual communion, he had neither lost Paradise, nor his posterity. It must be granted, that the smiles of Providence usually accompany the sincerity of obedience: And Sabbath-holiness is the Jachin and the Boaz, the pillars of this obedience. To keep that Ark in our house, to keep Christ in our heart, and to keep the Sabbath in our eye, so as devoutly to observe it, makes all we have to prosper, and entails a blessing upon ourselves and families. Constantine the Great, justly called so, in a Military, in a Civil, and in a religious sense, was as flourishing an Emperor, as ever sat in the Throne of the Roman Empire, and he took great care for the holy observation of the Lord's day, and made a statute to oblige both Himself and his Subjects so to do; and as some report, Composed Prayers for everyone of his Regiments to use upon that holy day. Thus Sabbath-holiness made his Crown flourish, and his exemplary sanctification of God's blessed day, shall preserve his memory more honourably and more durably, then the Walls or Structures of Constantinople, a City of his own Name and Erection: However, most sure it is, that as the prophan • tion of God's day is a moth and a worm; so the holy observation of it brings a secret blessing to our outward estates; and when we have been on the Mount with God on his own day, the Lord will make his face to shine upon us, Numb. 6. 25. and will be gracious to us in showing mercy, and showring benedictions upon us on the week day.
[Arg. 10] How serious are we in observation of other days. If that storms of Providence drive us to a day of Humiliation, we can with the Jews, Zach. 7. 5. fast and mourn, and reach Ahab in his deepest sorrows, 1 Kings 21. 27. And if the smiles of Providence call us to a day of Purim, Esth. 9. 26. a festival of joy, we can keep that day with spiritual rejoicing and gladness of heart, Esth. 9. 22. And we can delight ourselves in the Lord. As Cambden reports of Queen Elizabeth, when God delivered her and her Kingdom from the Spanish Armado, her first work was to go to Paul's Church, and there hear a Sermon of praise, rejoicing greatly in the God of her, and the Kingdoms salvation. Now as one observes, The Lord's day is the proper feast of Christians, our spiritual jubilee, though moving in a swifter sphere, and shall days of the appointment of a state put us upon a more exact composure, and find us more hearty in their observation, then that special and blessed day, which is the appointment of a God? Or shall a passage of Providence, the endurance of a loss, or the gaining of a Victory, or some other stroke of God's hand, or smile of God's face, find us more serious, more solemn, more devout, then the Resurrection of a Christ, the new birth day of the world, and the sole foundation of a Christians happiness? Shall the deliverance from a Spanish Armado fill us with more spiritual delight in God, then the deliverance from Heli and Destruction? Had not Christ broke the chains of death, we had everlastingly been kept in chains of darkness. Our Lord's day then glories in a more excellent occasion, and why should it not be celebrated with a more serious devotion? One well observes, That the Jews thought reverently of, and acted zealously on their solemn, though ceremonial festivals, those bright appearances, which were chased away by the rising of the Sun of Righteousness: therefore to use the Apostles words, a little inverted, seeing all those other days of observation are and shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness upon our unalterable Sabbath, whose lease expires not till the death of the Universe.
CHAP. LII. A third Decad of Arguments promoting the same design, (viz.) a due sanctification of the Lord's day.
THat every wind may fill our sails in pursuance of this great duty, I shall now turn my Arguments to another point of the Compass.
[Arg. 1] Let us take notice of the relation which God hath to the Sabbath. In the time of the law, the Sabbath was called the Sabbath of the Lord, Lev. 23. 3. And verily my Sabbath shall ye keep, Exod. 31. 13. And in the times of the Gospel, our Christian Sabbath is called, the Lord's day, Rev. 1. 10. Now this happy interest which God hath in the Sabbath from the beginning of the world to this day, is a cogent Argument for our severer observation of it. We will keep safely the treasure of a friend, and why not keep devoutly the Sabbath of a God? If our Sabbath be the Lord's day, let us render to Christ, the things which are Christ's. Gerard observes,
1. His people, they are the Apple of his eye.
2. His Sabbath, which is the reserve of his time: And as those who shall devour his people shall offend, so those who shall profane his day shall commit sacrilege, a sin of the deepest tincture. The consideration then, that our Sabbath is the Lord's day, should compose our spirits, should flush our services, and sublimate our performances on that blessed day.
[Argum. 2] Let us take notice of that tittle which God hath put upon the Sabbath: It is an holy Sabbath to the Lord, Exod. 16. 23. And here that answer to Peter, Acts 10. 15. is very pertinent, What God hath called clean, we must not look upon as common. They who profane the Sabbath would pick out the image and superscription of it, which is a fruitless and destructive attempt. A stamp of holiness amplifies every defilement. The spirit is a holy spirit, and therefore it must not be grieved, Eph. 4. 30. The law is a holy law, Rom. 7. 12. and therefore must not be violated. Jesus Christ is the Holy one of God, Psal. 16. 10. and therefore he must not be wounded and crucified afresh, Heb. 6. 6. The Priests garments were holy, Exod. 31. 10. and therefore not to be worn by another person. The vessels of the Sanctuary were holy, and therefore not to be employed in another service. The title of holiness was always a sufficient rampart and security against profaneness and audacious pollution; and shall it not be so in the holy Sabbath? Shall this holy day be spent in froth and idleness, or be spotted with sin or profaneness? Upon the forehead of the Sabbath is written in a fair character, Holiness to the Lord. Musculus observes, there is a double sanctification engraven upon the Sabbath.
1. There is God's sanctification of it, which is nothing else, but his consecration and setting apart the seventh part of every week to his worship and service.
2. There is man's sanctification, which is nothing else, but man's careful and sedulous spending this holy day in the exercises of piety and Religion: So that the Sabbath is doubly fenced against the encroachments of sin.
Again let us trace the Sabbath from its infancy to this day, and we shall still find a stamp of holiness upon it.
[unspec 1] The Sabbath is holy ab instituto, from the institution of it, Gen. 2. 3. God breathed holiness into it, when he first gave life to it. The first ordination of it was set with holiness, as a rich Ring is set with Diamonds. The Original word signifies no less 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 from the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 always signifying Holiness, aliquid a communi usu separatum, something separated to God from common use: So then it may be said of the Sabbath, as it was of Jeremy, Jer. 1. 5. It was sanctified from the womb.
[unspec 2] The Sabbath is holy a mandato, from the command, Exod. 20. 8. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. This command hath the great seal of a Memento upon it, carrying its badge and Character, singled out of all the rest, to have its Selah affixed to it. As if God should say, however other commands liable to breaches, may have their plea's, or find their favors, the breach of this command shall find none.
[unspec 3] The Sabbath is holy, a promisso, from the promises annexed to the holy observation of it. To this command of Sabbath sanctification, we have not only the naked bond of a precept, but the seal of a promise, Isa. 58. 13, 14. The keeping holy of this day is so prized by God, that he bribes it, that he sets a price upon it, and courts it with promises temporal and spiritual, with a Paradise of pleasure and delight.
[unspec 4] The Sabbath is holy, a Titulo, from its denomination: It is twice called holy, Isa. 58. 13. God's holy day; nay, the holy of the Lord, which is not without an emphasis. God doth to the Sabbath, as once he did to Abraham, Gen. 17. 5. give it a new and more honorable name, to restrain sinful and prurient man from the violation of it.
[unspec 5] The Sabbath is holy, a Christi operatione, from the works of Christ upon this day, Luke 6. 6. He that came from Heaven doth only the works of heaven upon this heavenly day. And in this, Christ is our guide, not only our Legislator, but our Pattern, the Pole-star for us to steer by.
[unspec 6] The Sabbath is holy, ab Apostolorum observatione, from the manner of the Apostles observation. They spent the Sabbath in preaching, in praying, in receiving the Sacrament, Acts 20. 7. and performing those duties which have a vein of holiness in them.
[unspec 7] The Sabbath is holy, a Joannis vision, from the Vision of John, the beloved Disciple, Rev. 1. 10. As if Christ deferred this rare discovery which he made to his bosom Apostle to his own day, to put the greater badge of honor, and stamp, the greater character of purity upon it. Therefore to sum up all, as he is not far from true piety, who makes conscience to keep this holy day; so his heart never yet felt, what either the fear of God, or true Religion meaneth, who can so far deface the beauty, and contradict the holiness of this day, as to spend and unravel it in vanity and profaneness. Dr. Denison notes upon Nebem. 13. 2. That where the Sabbath is not sanctified, there is neither sound Religion, nor a Christian conversation to be expected. And worthy Dr. Chetwind, That the profaning of the holy Sabbath of God, is contrary to God's moral precept, which still retains it force and vigor. Thus savou • y and learned men always agreed in this, with vigorous zeal to decry the prophaneing of God's day, as being that, which was an affront to the very name of an holy and honorable Sabbath.
[Arg. 3] Nay the great Jehovah hath given us his own example for holy rest on the Sabbath day. And what is more comely and beautiful then to follow the example of God? When Christ would have us to love our enemies, he urges the example of God, Luke 6. 35. When he would have us to be merciful, he cites the example of God, Luke 6. 36. And when he would have us to be perfect, he brings in his Father as a Pattern, Mat. 5. 48. And so in this case; we must sanctify the Sabbath, because God himself rested on that day. God doth not only enjoin the strict observation of the Sabbath by his express command, but in his own blessed example; he is pleased to rest for the observance of it. And which deserves our most serious animadversion: God did not only
1. Rest on that day, after the work of Creation was finished, Gen. 2. 3. when that stupendous work was now accomplished,
But 2dly, God rested on that day in not raining down Manna, but twice so much the day before, Exod. 16. 22, 25. there must not be so much as the disturbance of a shower to call off the people from the solemnity of the Sabbath. So that we might not err, God sets our Copy twice. It is a good saying of Musculus,
So then God's example re-enforces our obligation for Sabbath-holiness. In this affair we have all ties of obedience, not only the force of a righteous command, but we may see ourselves in the Crystal glass of divine example. And it is well observed by Gerard, God (saith he) did not so rest on the Sabbath from all work, but still on that day he preserved and governed all things: So our sanctification of the Sabbath doth not consist in a slothful idleness, but in working th • se things which make to the glory of God. So let us thus imitate God on his own day. Indeed God's patte • n is the Archetype, of all our actions, the surest glass for us to dress ourselves by; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , He hath said it, is the rule of all truth; and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , he hath done it, is the rule of all practice, wherein the blessed Jehovah is imitable. It was the Apostles glory that he followed Christ and so far he would have all Christians follow him, 1 Cor. 11. 1. It is an excellent saying of Basil,
[Arg. 4] The light of Nature leads us to a Sabbath, let the light of Scripture lead us to a holy observation of it. The Law of Nature instilleth this notion into us, That God paramount, who is Superlative in all Excellencies and Perfections, is to be worshipped: That to the performance of this worship, certain times are to be deputed, that none is so fit to depute that time, as that Deity whose worship it is: And therefore to keep this day which God hath appointed, holy to the same Lord, to sanctify it in holy Rest and spiritual worship, which Brerewood saith,
Nay, the observation of the Sabbath is so grateful to God, and so necessary to man, that the very ground had a Sabbath, Levite. 25. 2, 3, 4. the very Land was to keep a Sabbath; the words of the Text are these, When you come into the Land which I give you, then shall the Land keep a Sabbath to the Lord, Levite. 25. 2. And shall the dead earth keep a Sabbath to the Lord, and not living Christians? In this, one below Balaam's Ass reproves us. God in condemning Sabbath-breakers, may make his appeal, as sometimes he did, Jer. 6. 19. Jer. 22. 29. To the very earth. This surely must be a great sin, when the ground we trample upon shall be a witness against us.
Nay, the very Beasts had a Sabbath, Exod. 20. 10. The Cattle was to rest on the Sabbath-day: Now shall a Beast rest, and man work on the blessed Sabbath? Shall there be more obedience found in the Herds of the Stall, than in the Professors of the Gospel? Shall the Stable have more submissive Proselytes than the Sanctuary? It is a good observation of Gerard,
Because the Beast required rest as well as man, they could not live in continual painfulness, they must have their altenate ease and refreshments, as a learned man speaks. Their flesh is not brass, nor their bones iron, no more than that of man; tiresomness and languishing are incident to them, as well as to man.
[unspec 2] Because Beasts could not work without the assistance and will of man, and so man must be taken off from Sabbath-sanctification: Beasts cannot work of themselves, without the conduct and guidance of man. Now the working of a Beast is not so considerable, as the keeping of a Sabbath, which cannot be done, if men follow their Plows, or use their Beasts for labor on that day; then that excuse would be reviled, man could not come to Christ upon the Lord's day, he must use five yoke of Oxen, and therefore pray have him excused.
[unspec 3] Because God would inure man to pity and clemency, that favoring his Beast, he might learn mercy to man; the Beast must not work, that God might put more bowels into man, and that man might have more leisure for God.
Now the Psalmist saith, Psal. 32. 9. That we should not be like Horse or Mule which have no understanding. But to disturb the Rest of a Sabbath by sinful or secular works, is to be worse than the beast that perisheth.
Nay, the very strangers among the Jews were to observe the Sabbath, Exod. 20. 10. Doctor Twisse observes, there was no burden imposed upon strangers, besides the observation of the seven Precepts of Noah, and therefore infers, that the observation of the Sabbath was comprehended under one of them. But this is naturally deducible, none was to omit the observation of the Sabbath, no not the heathen stranger: And shall only the Christian blot the Sabbath by his sins, waste it by his sloth, or disturb it by his secular. works; Only the Christian to whom are committed the Oracles of God? Gerard takes occasion from this part of the fourth Commandment, to lay it as a charge upon Christian Magistrates, to see that all observe the Sabbath: and he saith, That this clause in the Command is proposed for their imitation.
But how great will the condemnation of Sabbath-breakers be, when the Instinct of Nature, the Rest of the ground, the Beasts of the field, nay, the very stranger, shall all read them Lectures of Sabbath-sanctification?
[Arg. 5] Let us cast our eye upon the practice of Heathens; they thought it equitable, that their consecrated days should be wholly and devoutly observed. Macrobius brings in one Vetius thus resolving,
[Argum. 6] Let us observe the zeal of holy men mentioned in Scripture, who have been eminent for Sabbath-observation. The Apostle gives us a good rule, Heb. 6. 12. Let us be followers of them, who through faith and patience inherit the promises. These Patterns of Piety may be our conduct and guide in this matter; take them in what age you will, the Sabbath still lay near their hearts, and was venerable in their practice.
1. Some before the Law were remarkable for Sabbath-holiness, they dreaded the pollution of God's day, before the terrors and smokes of Mount Sinai: And though they were in a Wilderness; they had not so l • st themselves, but they knew how to meet with God on his own day. And as Manasseh Ben-Israel well observes, The Jews were forced to neglect the Sabbath in Egypt, by reason of the violence and cruelty of their Taskmasters; but when God brought them out of that Land of bondage, one of their first works was Sabbath-observation. Their Delivery is historically related in the 14th Chapter of Exodus, and their observation of the Sabbath in the 16th Chapter of the same Book: So Exod. 16. 30. So the people rested on the seventh day, which must needs be meant of an holy Rest; for a naked b • re Rest, is the loss, not the sanctification of a Sabbath: And if the people of Israel had so rested, God soon would have taken notice of it, and have severely threatened, if not sorely punished it: but no word of reproof, but only of those, who went out on the Sabbath to gather Manna, some few stragglers, Exod. 16. 27. who instead of finding Manna, lost their way, and met with a reproof instead of a meal. Now here we meet with God's people keeping God's day, before the fourth Commandment was proclaimed by sound of Trumpet. Now shall the people of Israel without the sanction of a law rest with God on his own day, and shall Christians who have not only the force and obligation of the fourth Commandment, but the alluring argument of Christ's Resurrection, to oblige to the sanctification of the Sabbath, shall they be careless and negligent; vain and frothy on God's holy day? Surely the darkness of an Heathen, and the twilight of an Israelite, wandering up and down in a wilderness, will bear witness against such a generation.
2. Some holy men under the Law, I shall only select here, the rare Example of good Nehemiah, an excellent pattern for Magistrates and People, how carefully to observe God's holy Sabbath; And his Zeal shall be comprised in four particulars.
[unspec 1] He looked upon the reforming of Sabbath-abuses as a principal part of Reformation; therefore he reproves, threatens, and sets watch, to observe the profanation of this holy day. He beareth his testimony vigorously against it, Nehem. 13. 15. And here the courtesy and common civilities which are given to strangers bear no sway with him, Nehem. 13. 16. He will not strain courtesy when the honor of God is concerned; obedience is better then sacrifice, much more then civilities. The pollution of a Sabbath, that God provoking sin makes this holy man wave all fair and debonaire carriages, and turns courtesy into severity, and usual reception into just indignation.
[unspec 2] Nehemiah thinks the cause of the Sabbath worth contending for, with the Nobles themselves, Nehem. 13. 17. not only with inferior people, who are soon hushed with his Authority, and tremble at the Magistrates sword; but with the Peers of the Realm, who might enter the lists with him, or hatch some conspiracy against him; but holy zeal is no respecter of persons; and in this, Nehem. like the three children, Dan. 3. 18, 19. Is not solicitous to pore upon his own concerns or interest; duty, and not safety guides him, a rare pattern for Magistrates.
[unspec 3] This good Governor personates the Prophet, and gives in a narrative not only of those judgments which had overtaken those who had profaned the Sabbath in former times; but he fore-tells the same calamities to ensue upon the present Age, if God's Sabbath be defiled, Nehem. 13. 18.
[unspec 4] He turns all his speech into action, (the true genius of piety,) for indeed councils and threats are both abortive until enlivened by execution; therefore Nehemiah scatters strangers by force, Nehem. 13. 21. and chases them away from Jerusalem, that they should not come near it upon the Sabbath day, Neh. 13. 21. And he lays a severe command on the Levites for Sabbath-sanctification; and in the discharge of his duty, he recommends himself to the merciful and kind remembrances of the Almighty, Neh. 13. 22. And here, as our Savior saith, let us go and do so likewise, Luke 10. 37. Let us imitate the zeal of this excellent man, whose name for his love to, and care of God's Sabbath, lives in the blessed Scriptures, and there shall survive to all perpetuity. But shall Nehemiah not permit a piece of ware to be sold on the Sabbath without the gates of the City; and shall we commit a lust on God's day within the walls of a house, of a Stews, or an Ale-house? Shall he forbid all Merchandize, and shall we traffic with Hell on the Sabbath day? Surely his Zeal will turn into our flame; and this will fall in with other aggravations of our sin, we scribled after so fair a copy.
3. Some after the Law have been eminent for Sabbath-holiness. Let us trace the Apostolical practice, which in this case is our brightest beam for our conduct and guidance. How indefatigable were they in their labors, powerful in their reasonings, multifarious in their administrations, frugal of their time, copious in their preaching, and stupendous in their works upon God's holy day. On this day, they discovered their thirst after souls, their love to the Gospel; and as so many stars, they scattered the light of glorious truth: They would preach on a Sabbath, although it was in a proscribed Synagogue; and they would pray on a Sabbath, though it was by a Rivers side, a place of more privacy then shelter. And shall these Heavenly patterns put no animation and life in us to honor the Lord's day with duty and devotion? The Limner who hath a beautiful person before him, and yet draws an unseemly picture, deserves to have the pencil snatched out of his hand, and to be discharged of his employment.
[Arg. 7] Let us take a prospect of the golden age of the Church, and observe the carriage of the Primitive Christians upon the Lord's day. O what a heavenly spirit breathed in them on this blessed day! insomuch that Tertullian cries out in a kind of a rapture, On this day we meet in our assemblies, and as with a stretched-out hand, we clasp about God with our prayers. If ye will know when the Primi • ive Christians began their Sabbath, Jerome tells us, about midnight, which likewise Basil affirms to be the usual practice of those times, and tells us a story of himself in relation to these midnight meetings. But that the Christians met before day light on the Lord's day, it was so generally known in the world, that Pliny, a modest Heathen took notice of it, and makes mention of it in an Epistle to Trajan the Roman Emperor, and spake of it in commendation of the Christians, and urged this practice, as an alleviating argument to soften the Emperor to more mildness towards them, and so to slacken the present persecution. These meetings before day on the Sabbath are likewise mentioned by Tertullian in a Tract of his. We see then the early zeal of the Primitive Christians on the Lord's day; Nor did they rise so soon, but to spend the time to the highest advantage Justin Martyr gives us a full account of the Christians deportment on the Lord's day;
Thus we have the pattern of the primitive Church, and it is a good standard for our practice. Their early rising should make us more frugal of the time of a Sabbath, their fervent zeal should make us more spiritual in the Ordinances of a Sabbath; and their devotion at home should make us more conscientious in our families upon God's holy day. Let us therefore bestrict and exact in Sabbath-observation, having the golden age of the Church for our ensample. And indeed pure Religion and undefiled which the Apostle speaks of, Jam. 1. 27. never looks so comely as upon a Sabbath day; the day inhances the duty, as the lovely dress sets off the lovely person, Beauty taking advantage from the attire.
[Argu. 8] The holy observation of the Sabbath is the support of Religion, and keeps it from flights or falls: Every devout worshipper on the Lord's day, is but a lessar pillar to shore up godliness and piety in the world. While public worship is seriously frequented, and private duties are frequently performed, while the sacred word of God is diligently attended, the blessed Sacrament devoutly received, while holy prayers with moistened eyes, and melting hearts, are affectionately poured forth, and sent up to God on his own holy day, while these things are in ure in a Nation; piety and Religion are above the fears of decay. Religion sails or sinks with the Sabbath, when both are embarqued in the same Vessel, and where this holy day is constuprated by vanity and profaneness, profession is laid waste and desolate; the sanctification of God's day keeps up God's fear in the Church, but that being suspended, the gap is made, and the Church lies open to all kinds of sinful incursions. A learned man tells us, that Guntheram, a pious King of France, fighting against the Goths with unhappy success, did sedulously inquire into the cause of it; and taking notice of the neglect of the Bishops instructing the people, as likewise observing the profaneness of the people in dishonoring the Lord, he presently concluded, this was the proper source and cause of his late discomfiture and calamity; and therefore he immediately commanded, That the Lord's day should be carefully and solemnly observed throughout his whole Dominions, as being the most proper remedy, and most likely Cure for those distempers which had shaken the happiness both of Church and State; God usually calculating his providence according to the observation of his day, smiling upon those places where it is religiously observed, and evidencing his displeasure where it is slighted or contemned.
[Arg. 9] The sanctification of the Sabbath is the discharge in a great measure of that duty pressed by the Apostle, Phil. 3. 20. Let your conversation be in heaven. All the duties of the Sabbath are but transactions with Heaven: Our prayers are our approach and appeal to Heaven; and therefore we are said, to lift up a prayer, Jer. 7. 16. Our hearing the word is only hearing News from Heaven, Acts 20. 27. And our Sacramental receipts are only the tasting of the fruit of the Vine,