The Practical Sabbatarian
Secondly, It is a confusing Act: Six days we must work; if we likewise work on the Sabbath, where is the distinction? Then there will be no wall of separation, all will be working days, and there is no day of rest, and so the fourth Commandment is a mere parenthesis, and God wrote with his own finger a mere impertinency. To what a height of frenzy will these consequences rise? There is no gold of a Sabbath to be found in the rubbish of the week; why should any rubbish of the week be found among the gold of a Sabbath?
〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉Thirdly, It is a destructive act; It robs the soul of its sweetest opportunity. Christ is most principally to be spoken with by the soul on his own day; this day is set apart for intercourse with heaven, it is the term time of the soul, a busy time for his affairs; and therefore to spend any of this time in secular works, what is it but to pluck the bread out of the mouth of the soul, and to throw fire-brands into the believers harvest?
Fourthly, It is an Irreligious Act, below the devotion of the very Heathens, who have kept a Sabbath, as a rest. It is recorded in Heathen Stories, That their Boys go not to School on the Sabbath day, neither are human Arts and Sciences then taught or disputed. And Philo Judaeus observes, That divers poor people, that never had Scripture or Prophet among them, but followed only the conduct of the light of Nature, and what they had learned from their Ancestors, did keep the Sabbath day. And Clemens Alexandrinus tells us, that the very Heathens did account the seventh day, a holy day; And that Alexander Severus Emperor of Rome, though a Pagan and an Infidel, yet every Sabbath day, he retired from his warlike affairs, and went up into the Capitol to worship the God's. Musculus calls, All secular and servile works the impediments of Sabbath-holiness: And indeed they are that dirt which stops up the water-course of grace, that it cannot run out upon the soul. It is very observable in the time of the Law, how severely God prohibits working upon the Sabbath:
First, He puts a prohibition in the fourth Commandment, that Standard of our obedience in the observation of the Sabbath; Th • u shalt do no manner of work, Exod. 20. 10. and these words are repeated, Deut. 5. 14. That by the mouth of two Witnesses this truth may be established.
And Secondly, From the root of this great Command sprouts many additional injunctions, not to work upon the Sabbath, Exod 31. 14, 15. Exod. 35. 2. Lev. 23. 3.
Thirdly, Nay, Servile work is so inconsistent with the solemn feast of the Sabbath, that God forbids all servile works on other festivals, those solemnities of an inferior nature; On the days of the Pass-over, Lev. 23. 7. On the days of Expiation, Lev. 29. 23. Lev. 23. 28, 29, 30. On the feast of Tabernacles, Lev. 23. 34, 35. And surely, if inferior days of observation were defiled by secular works, much more the blessed Sabbath, in which the people of God must keep their meetings in the Suburbs of Heaven.
Fourthly, How often doth God espouse Sabbath and Rest together as indivisible? Exod. 16. 23. Exod. 31. 15. Exod. 35. 2. And indeed holy Rest is the life of a Sabbath; and if the Sabbath rest be disturbed, it faints away, and becomes an unprofitable miscellany of rest and labor, and an expiring dying privilege.
Fifthly, How severely doth God threaten the disturbers of the Sabbath rest? God threatens them, to throw them out of the Church, Exod. 31. 14. Nay, to throw them out of the world, Exod. 31. 15. And brands such as are violatours of his Covenant, Exod. 31. 16. And shall Rest be so necessary for the legal, and not as convenient for the Evangelical Sabbath? Surely much more, the Lord's day must not be disturbed by man's work; but as Christ on the first day of the week rose from his toil to his triumph, so must Christians on that sanctified day lay aside all their worldly toil and labors, and take up their triumph and rejoicing in God, spending those golden hours of the Sabbath in heavenly Communion, sweetly delighting themselves in the visits of their beloved, to which all labor is a disturbance; and so our Sabbath above, it is a perfect, an undisturbed rest, in which the mind shall not be racked with cares, the body shall not be wasted with toil, nor the spirits spent with labor, or the heart torn with griefs, but soul and body shall be calmed into an eternal quietation. The Apostle saith, Heb. 4. 9. There remains therefore a rest to the people of God. The Greeks call it a Sabbatism, our future Sabbath and Rest being all one. When the Apostle wrote his Epistle to the Hebrews, the rest of the legal Sabbath was over, and the rest of Canaan was first disturbed by Nebuchadnezzar, and upon overthrowing, and quite taking away by Titus the Roman; so now then there remains only a rest in Heaven, a heavenly Sabbath for the people of God. In this life our Sabbath itself is disturbed, sometimes with vain thoughts, with deadness, and coldness in duties, it is disquieted with the iniquity of our holy things, we cannot pray as we would, and we do not hear as we should, we often displease Christ at his own table, when we come with polluted hands, and unprepared hearts; and when duties are over, we either dash upon sins of omission, or rush upon language or practices unbecoming the Lord's day; there is still something to discompose our spirits, our hearts are sad, and our moans are great; but however, the week treads upon the heels of our Sabbath, and then like the Sons of Adam, we get our livelihood in the sweat of our brows; then we toil our brains, harden our hands, and weary our bodies, and all for that which is not bread, Isa. 55. 2. And besides, as Master Herbert, that sweet and excellent Poet observes, our Sabbath doth but leap from seven to seven, it flies away, and then recurs in a constant revolution; One Sabbath passeth over, and we must press through the crowd of weekly and worldly affairs which will make us sweat and faint, before we attain to another.
But our Sabbath above is,
[unspec 1] A rest from sin. In it we shall enjoy absolute purity, and spotless perfection; we shall there be a Glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, Eph. 5. 27. Sin cannot dwell in Heaven with God, it is impossible; if Achan's wedge, one sin, disturbed the whole Camp of Israel, John 7. 11. How would one sin disturb the Court of Heaven? It would put a damp upon all the triumphs of it; there cannot be perfect joy where there is the least relique of sin.
[unspec 2] A rest from troubles and afflictions. In our heavenly Sabbath there shall be no groans but musicks, no sighs but songs, no tears but triumphs; not a drop of the waters of Marah in a whole ocean of joy and satisfaction: if any grief remained, our joy would not be full.
[unspec 3] The Saints in glory shall be freed from natural afflictions; They shall hunger no more, nor thirst anymore, Rev. 7. to 16. to which accords that of the Prophet, Isa. 49. 10. The Saints cannot hunger in their eternal Sabbath, for the good Shepherd of our souls doth not only f • ed us to eternal life, but likewise in eternal life, and there he shall feed us with fullness of joy, with the smiles of his face, with the fruits of his love, and with the overcoming influences of his grace and favor. And moreover, the Saints cannot thirst in glory; The Lamb shall bring them to living fountains of waters, Rev. 22. 1. They shall have waters for their necessity, Rivers of water for their plenty, nay pure rivers of water for their greater ecstacy; and these rivers of water shall proceed out of the Throne of God and the Lamb, for their superlative complacency.
[unspec 2] Nor shall the Saints Eternal rest be disturbed with pressing afflictions; All tears shall be wiped from their eyes, a sentence mentioned three times in Scripture, Isa. 25. 8. Rev. 7. 17. Rev. 21. 4. As if every person in the Trinity, would severally assure the Saints of future undisturbed felicity. A learned man observes, this phrase of wiping tears from our eyes, is a metaphor taken from tender mothers, who give their breasts to their infants when they cry for want, and then wipe off their tears from their pretty cheeks which were bedewed with that emblem of sorrow: Tears are those drops which fall, when the fire of affliction is put under; the sense of some evil, the feeling of some corroding sorrow squeizeth them out, as the extremity of pain makes the patient sweat. But such oppressive calamities shall not seize upon the Saints in their Sabbath, and Rest above: here indeed they are in a valley of tears; but one tear shall not interrupt the joys of the glorified Saints: The Psalmist saith, Psal. 30. 6. Weeping endures for a night, but joy cometh in the morning; and when the Saints are arrived at their rest above, all night is past to return no more; the morning is begun to pass away no more.
[unspec 3] The Saints Eternal Rest shall not be disturbed with privative afflictions; There shall be no more death, Rev. 21. 4. Then death shall be swallowed up in victory, 1 Cor. 15. 57. and it shall rally no more to do any execution upon the Saints in glory. Our Sabbath in heaven is eternal, and therefore our life is eternal. Indeed here below death is always to be expected, Job 14. 14. But above death is never to be dreaded; there that King of terrors, as Job calls it, Job 18. 14. hath lost both his Scepter and hs Sithe, both his force and his prevalency. There is neither fear nor expectation of death in glory; were it not so, it would turn those rivers of pleasure memorized by the Psalmist, Psal. 36. 8. into salt and unpleasant waters; and upon the very possessions of heaven would be written, bitterness in the latter end: But faith in Christ gives us eternal life, John 3. 16. A full assurance and security against the approaches and seizures of death or conclusion. Perfection, which is the character of the Saints future condition, excludes and denies all end or conclusion, as Musculus well observes.
[unspec 4] The Saints Eternal Rest shall not be disturbed with accidental afflictions. Neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be anymore pain, Rev. 21. 4. In our heavenly rest, we shall neither grieve for the loss of friends, nor cry for the smart of troubles, nor roar for anguish or pain, but eternal ease and tranquility shall sweeten our glorious Sabbath, and we shall forever be singing our requiems. There shall be no spot, and therefore no sorrow, no guilt, and therefore no grief, affliction being the inseparable companion of sin and deviation.
[unspec 5] The Saints Eternal Rest shall not be disturbed by persecuting afflictions, Neither shall the Sun light upon them, nor any heat, Rev. 7. 16. By this heat we may truly understand the heat of persecution, Mat. 13. 21. Satan's rage, and wicked men's fury may reach gracious, but not glorified Saints; The Church Militant, but not the Church Triumphant. Satan cannot throw his fiery darts into the New Jerusalem, the City of the first born. Here the Sun of persecution may arise and scorch the Saints; but in glory, there shall be no need of Sun for light, Rev. 22. 5. much less for beams to burn; but the Lord shall give them light, which will be only the shining forth of eternal grace and favor, the light of his own blessed countenance.
[unspec 6] Our Eternal Rest shall not be disturbed by toil or labor. In the Earthly Paradise, man was to dress the Garden, Gen. 2. 15. and this he was to do in his state of innocence; so that there was labor, though no pain; there was some kind of care, though no corrosive. But in Paradise above, there shall be no minding of the fruits of the Earth, but the Saints shall be always tasting the joys of Heaven: What should we toil with in our heavenly Sabbath, with our hearts? There is no corruption; with our hands? there is no want, or capacity of addition; with our enemies? there is no temptation, neither of fury from Satan, or flattery from the world; and what should we labor for? To gain more? there is no defect; to be better? there is a full and absolute perfection: And therefore the rest of our present, doth sweetly shadow forth the perfect rest of our future Sabbath.
[unspec 7] Our Sabbath here resembles our Sabbath hereafter in its splendor and external beauty. On our Christian Sabbath, we put on our best attire, we array our outward man with our choicest and best apparel, as well as adorn our inward man with holy and gracious dispositions. The Sabbaths festival calls for our ornaments, the deckings of our body; we come to the assemblies of the Saints with the neatness and elegancy of our wear, that both body and soul should be dressed to meet with their beloved; nasty hearts, and sordid clothes (if it may be prevented) are both undecent on the Lord's day. When Joseph was to go into the presence of Pharaoh, he changed his clothes, Gen. 41. 14. How much less doth neglect and despicableness become the presence of the Divine Majesty? That which is civil and comely, doth adorn holy worship and religion: Mans body is God's workmanship, and is a piece of rare curiosity, Psal. 139. 16. The texture indeed and artifice of divine wisdom and power; and therefore we must not eclipse the honor of this body, by attiring it sordidly, and more meanly then there is necessity, when we come to worship God on his own day. The best of our Garments suit the best of our days. On the Subbath we meet our Bride-groome, Mat. 18. 20. And Brides usually are dressed with the greatest care and exactness. Indeed Pride of Apparel is a stain, but decency is an Ornament to God's blessed day; nor must we put on our choicest attire to waste the time, but to honor the day of a Sabbath. Pareus observes only foolish Monks place holiness in tattered and nasty garments; but such rags are adequate and fit for such a mimical superstitious rout.
And so in our heavenly Sabbath, we shall be clothed with brightness, splendor and glory, as with a garment: Indeed it is a great question among Divines, whether properly we shall be clothed with raiment in our Eternal rest, and it is by the most concluded the contrary. Indeed there i • mention made of white raiment, Rev. 4. 4. But this only signifies purity, as likewise of exact attire, Rev. 19. 7. But this only signifies perfection; nay, of fine linen, Rev. 19. 8. But this only signifies glory; that kind of wear which becometh Kings Houses, Mat. 11. 8. The Schoolmen observe, that the blessed shall have garments, but not of gold, or silk, but of light: And indeed garments though never so rich, would speak something of imperfection; Garments are for adorning, and that speaks want of Ornament; they are for the repelling of the injuries of the weather, which speaks an inferior condition; not to speak of their primitive use, which was to cover nakedness: I might add, garments are the▪ veils of modesty; but glory is incapable of shame: And therefore clothing properly is not requisite in our heavenly Sabbath. Adam in his innocence before the fall needed not raiment, much less the Saints shall want it in a state of glory. Indeed we shall put on our best apparel in our Sabbath above, but they shall be garments of innocence, Rev. 7. 13. Sweet smelling odoriferous garments, Psal. 45. 8. Bright shining and illustrious garments, Dan. 12. 3. Beautiful, rare, and comely garments, Isa. 52. 1. Garments of praise and glorious thanksgiving, Isa. 61. 3. Such garments the Saints shall wear in their future rest, embroidered with all varieties of joy and happiness. And indeed if there be so much ornament in a spirit of quietness and meekness as the Apostle speaks, 1 Pet. 3. 4. how ornamental must a spirit of glory be in its full brightness and perfection?
But as our Sabbath below doth something resemble, so it doth infinitely fall short of our Sabbath above.
[unspec 1] The two Sabbaths differ in their duration: Our Christian Sabbath is a golden, but a little spot of time; like a draught of rich wine, it is lushious, but it is quickly drank off; Our sweetest Sabbath here is but the passage of a day, it endures no longer then the Sun can make its flight for a few hours. Our life is but a span; our Sabbath how little a part of this span? It is the Lord's day, but yet a day of bright gleam, the souls market which is presently over; like a great Feast wherein we have fed plentifully, but the next day the meal must be renewed, or the body faints and languisheth. Nay, our Sabbath is only the seventh part of the week, and all our Sabbaths are but the seventh part of our life, which the Apostle calls a vapor, Jam. 4. 14. both for its contemptibleness and speedy disappearing. God's blessed day here is sweet, but short, it is a banquet indeed, but the cloth is soon taken away; it is like the star in Bethlehem which was useful to bring to Christ, but it soon disappeares.
But our Sabbath above shall be stretched out to all eternity, it will be always spending, but never wasting, no week day shall follow it, no night shall close it, no death shall bury it. The Jewish Sabbath was entombed in Christ's grave; the Christian Sabbath shall end with the world: The beautiful fabric of the world shall be taken down, and the Sabbath of Christians shall be rolled up together; but our Sabbath above shall never be shut in with any period or termination. This blessed Sabbath in glory is spotless, and why should it die if it have not offended? It is perfect, and perfection admits of no end or conclusion, whatsoever is undefiled, is eternal; so God is everlasting, the good Angels and glorified Saints. The Sabbath above is a full rest, and it could not be perfect ease if it met with a certain end; a conclusion must needs be a disturbance, and that rest must needs be imperfect which is interrupted. The Saints would 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 not pray so ardently for this rest, Psal. 55. 6. if they were to suffer another remove, and still be liable to change and mutation. The Jews rest in Canaan, which was sweetened with the over-flowing of milk and honey, did only prefigure this Eternal rest, as the shadows in the time of the Law did typify Christ. But the rest of Canaan is at an end, and all the legal shadows are passed away, but Christ and our Sabbath above shall remain forever. In this then our Sabbath to come surpasses the present, viz. in continuance and duration.
[unspec 2] The two Sabbaths differ in their purity: Our Sabbath here may be and is spotted, it is black as well as comely, fair indeed, but yet not without its wrinkles, the emblems of frailty and imperfection; This holy One will see corruption. The most accurate Saint defiles his best Sabbath, and when he is most circumspect he is offensive, he either pollutes it with the lesser stain of vain and frivolous thoughts, or with the larger stain of unsuitable and impertinent language, or with the blacker stain of unjustifiable and sinful practice, or with the deeper stain of deadness and unbecomingness in holy duties, or with the more usual stain of misspending time, letting that golden oil run in wast: The Saints themselves fall seven times on this day as well as others. The way is so narrow on a Sabbath, that we easily miss it; either we are not prepared for the duties of a Sabbath, or we are defective in those duties, or we are weary of those blessed services: There will be still something amiss; either our tongues slip, or our hearts wander, Isa. 29. 13. Our feet slide, or our graces flag; either we neglect holy Ordinances that day, or we are careless in Ordinances, or we are incautelous after Ordinances; we have not been so vigorous in closet duties, or not so savory in family services, or we have not behaved ourselves so composedly in the public Assemblies, as did become the purity of a Sabbath: The Sabbath here may complain that it sojourns in Mesech, and dwells in the tents of Kedar, Psal. 120. 5. It is like the Ark among the Philistines, 1 Sam. 5. 1. It is unattainable by the Saints of the highest form, to keep a Sabbath upon earth without blot or blemish: Here the learest sky hath a cloud.
But now our Sabbath above shall not be defiled or freckled with the least defect or imperfection. We are perfect in our eternal Sabbath, and therefore we can breath no damp upon it. The Apostle avers there we shall be like Christ, 1 John 3. 2. which is security enough against all fear of taint or pollution. Hereafter we shall fully recover the image of Christ, our souls and bodies shall be perfectly pure; And indeed that glass had need be clean, in which God must see his image and representation, the least speck or tincture of imperfection would wholly spoil the resemblance. The Psalmist by an eye of faith seeth the day of Resurrection, and rejoices in this, he shall fully recover the image of Christ, Psal. 17. 15. Both the Prophet and Apostle agree in this triumphal truth, we shall be fully restored to God's image in glory. And if we are perfect, from whence should our Eternal Sabbath receive a stain? From the Author of it? He is a holy God; from the nature of it? It is a perfect rest; from the possessors of it? They are unspotted Saints, and therefore it must remain in eternal purity.
[unspec 3] The two Sabbaths differ in the fullness of their enjoyments: Our Sabbath here is only the tuning of our Music; we shall enjoy in the Bride-chamber; and in the tuning of the rarest instrument there will be some jarring, some harshness. Our present Sabbath is a pleasing twilight, in it we taste how good and gracious God is, we see through a glass darkly, we drink drops of divine delight, we have refreshing gleams, sweet visits of Christ's presence, but we know visits are soon over. There is a threefold imperfection which clouds the enjoyments of the present Sabbath.
[unspec 1] We enjoy but little of God, we only see him through a cranny or a lattice on our Sabbath here: It may be one truth in a Sermon may warm the heart, and many savory truths pass by and make no impression; we are sometimes affected in a prayer, other times the heart is dead and flat, and the chariot wheels are taken off, and we drive heavily, we rise with grief and guilt from our knees. Sometimes at a Sacrament we make a good meal, but at another season we are little better than spectators at that heavenly banquet. Nay, the very efficacy of Ordinances is sharp and painful; when the word doth work it breaks hearts, it slaughters lusts, it meets with the torrent of corruptions, it is the corrosive which eats out dead flesh; and all those things are unknown in our better Sabbath. And how many Ordinances do we enjoy, and how few do we profit by? Sermons oftentimes are more our music then our medicine; they court more then they cure; we seldom meet with the blessed appearances of God: Our spiritual benefit by Gospel-dispensations is like the grapes after the Vintage. In our Sabbath here we see God more remotely, at such an infinite distance we can scarce discern him; as we look upon stars as so many twinkling tapers, they are at such a distance, we see little or nothing of their vast magnitude.
[unspec 2] Our little enjoyment of God on our Sabbath here meets with great interruptions, it is like a shallow stream which runs a little way, and then is dried up; we happily meet with Christ on a Sabbath, and many Sabbaths pass over before we meet again with our beloved; there are many pauses and chasms in our sensible communion with God. The visits of Christ are sweet, but they are not constant; we often come to the assemblies of the Saints, but we do not meet with our beloved: Showers of divine mercy they are refreshing, but they are rare; the Spouse cannot find Christ, no not on his own day; how often doth the Saint say even concerning the Sabbath, as once Titus did, They have lost a day: as some flowers sometimes they lift up the head and open, but of a sudden they hang the head and fade away; so the poor soul, it sometimes cries out in an Ordinance, He is come, he is come, he hath given me the kisses of his lips, but presently all is dark again, and the distressed Saint is ready to inquire, did you see my beloved, did ye meet with him whom my soul loveth.
Our little enjoyment of God upon our present Sabbath is much darkened by our own neglects: On God's holy day we do not prepare to meet with God, and so we miss of that little of his presence we might enjoy. Our own follies draw the curtain, raise the cloud, set up the screen which hinder our pleasing views we might have of God; We sometimes come to hear from God, and we will not take pains with our hearts; and then though we hear the word of God, we miss of the God of the word: And so in Prayer, we do not pullice up our hearts, exert our graces, and stir up our strength to lay hold on God, and so we loose the sweet appearances we might otherwise be ravished with, we loose the lifting up of God's countenance, Psal. 4. 7. the sweet smiles of God's face, the powerful workings of his Spirit, and the practical visits of his grace, that power and glory which God shows in his sanctuary, & revives his p • ople with, on his own day: So that many imperfections beset our present Sabbath.
But our enjoyments in our Sabbath above are superlative and glorious; we shall have a threefold vision to delight us:
First, A corporal vision, by which we shall see the human nature of Christ, which will be most transcendent; his incarnation Robes being embroidered with all variety of perfections. Mans nature was crowned with all glory in Christ's assumption of it.
Secondly, A spiritual vision; By which we shall see the blessed Angels, those beauteous spirits, the illustrious master-piece of the whole Creation: and this view will be most complacential, the Angels beauty being never stained, their strength never impaired, their wisdom never foiled, their music never jarred, but these morning stars sing together, Job 38. 7. and it shall be ever morning with them, and their Hosts were never discomfited.
Thirdly, An intellectual vision; by which we shall see the ever blessed Trinity, and not as we do here, with clouds and shades, but clearly, and face to face, 1 Cor. 13. 12. Job 19. 26. which sight will be the spring of ineffable joys. Chytreus observes, In our heavenly Sabbath we shall see God, and all masks shall be removed, all vails rent, we shall be filled with light without all darkness, with wisdom without all error, with righteousness without all sin, with joy without all grief, with life without all decease or death. One well observes, That our sight of God in glory, shall not be like the sight of one man beholding another, for from that sight there may be some pleasure, but nothing of advantage; But our sight of God shall be close and intimate, and not only the conveyance of delight, but an affluence of all good things, and desirable satisfactions. God being the chiefest good, our beholding him must needs return to us all unspeakable happiness, all joy and sweetness in the highest degree. Our Savior avers, hereafter the Elect shall be like the Angels, Mat. 12. 25. Luke 20. 36. And how glorious is their sight of God! Those excellent spirits, how do they fill their joys from that ocean of pleasure which flows from the beatifical vision. Augustine saith, our sight of God is our chief reward in heaven. Gregory Nyssen takes notice, That so far to be honored as to see God, is the consummation of our hope, the full of our desires, the top of all unspeakable good things; I may add, to see God is the issue and stage of our faith, the sea of enjoyment, into which the River of faith runs and is lost. How infinitely greater then will our enjoyments in our Sabbath above be, then those we attain to here in our Sabbath below! In our Sabbath above, there shall be fullness of joy, Psal. 16. 11. A torrent of pleasures which will be ever running, and over-flowing; but here our delights in the Lord are faint and few, like the Sun shining in a shower, mixed with successive tears: In our Sabbath above, we shall be satisfied with the likeness of God, Psal. 17. 15. But here in our Sabbath below, we must bemoan the iniquity of our holy things; not only the iniquity of our slips, but of our services; there are black spots upon the face of our fairest duties, those which look with the most taking countenance; our very tears had need of washing; our prayers interceding for pardon, and our sighs, which are the hearts incense, had need perfuming, and when we are in our best dress, we may be censured for uncomliness. In our Sabbath above, there shall be everlasting triumph and exultation, Psal. 68. 4. The Saints shall be always glorying upon their beds of spices, and on their Mountanes of prey, everlasting joy shall be upon their heads, as a triumphal Crown, Isa. 35, 10. But here in our Sabbath below, our rejoicing is soon over-cast; either God hides his face in displeasure, or we let fall our hands in duty, and then our triumph is turned into trouble, and we are ready to say, Woe to us that we sojourn in a valley of Baca, a wilderness of tears and inconstancy.
[unspec 4] The two Sabbatht differ in their suavity and delight. Indeed our Sabbath below is not wholly destitute of its sweets and consolations; dews of delights fall upon it, like Manna about the Israelites Camp; there is marrow and fatness in the Ordinances of it, Psal. 63. 5. There are refreshings and perfumed gusts in holy duties. David's meditations were sweet and lushious, Psal. 104. 34. Job perfers God's word above his necessary food, Job 23. 12. John was in the spirit on the Lord's day, Rev. 1. 10. in an excess of joy, and in the height of intellectual rapture. Peter in his prayers was in a trance, Acts 10. 10. he was carried above himself, and saw heaven opened to present him with unwonted views. Daniel in the midst of his supplications had the prospect and company of an Angel, Dan. 9. 21. An inhabitant of glory descends to congratulate and accost him; nay, oftentimes the word is sweeter then honey to the taste of the hearer, Psal. 19. 10. And while we attend upon it, we feed upon dropping honey-combs. Peter preaching to his Auditory, there falls a shower of the spirit, and heaven came down to visit the Congregation. Holy duties how often are they spiced with unspeakable delight and complacency. Among the Oblations of the Jews, there were perfumes to be offered upon the Altar of Incense, Exod. 30. 1, 7. And our Gospel Sacrifices are often sweetened with inward joy and consolation. If Christ meet us in a duty or an ordinance, he drops sweetness from his voice, Cant. 2. 14. sweetness from his lips, Cant. 5. 13. sweetness from his fingers, Cant. 5. 5. sweetness from his cheeks, Cant. 5. 13. sweetness from his mouth, Cant. 5. 16. If we taste anything of his fruit, it is very sweet, Cant. 2. 3. when Christ gives a visit he is every way sweet to the soul.
The Sabbath receives an additional delight from the Communion of Saints; we do not only meet with God, but with his people on his sacred Sabbath, we flock as Doves to the windows, and as stars meet in a constellation, as morning stars we sing together. David remembers with some kind of complacency, the joy he had in going to the Sanctuary with the multitude, Psal. 42. 4. The Primitive Christians prayed, and brake bread together, Acts 2. 42. Their harmony was their happiness, and their society was their satisfaction: But yet all these sweets have their allays, their damps, and their ecclipses, they are as the shining moon behind a cloud, they yield only a duskish light.
[unspec 1] First, The sweets of our present Sabbath are only partial; they may delight the soul, they do not delight the body; a diseased body is not cured at a Sermon; a tormented body is not eased at an Ordinance; if we read, the dim eye is not made more vivacious; if we receive the Sacrament, the paralitical hand is not made more steady: the hand of faith may be strengthened, but not the hand of flesh; moreover the Ordinances they may delight the mind with information, when they do not affect the heart with gracious impressions; they may be our Counsellers, when they are not our Comforters; they may convey gladness, when they do not transmit grace to us, Mark 6. 20. Nay, they may cherish one grace, when they do not recruit another. The word may be a pillar to our faith, when it is not a prop to our patience; as Job, he flings in his troubles, Job 3. 3. when nothing could daunt his faith; If the Lord kill him, yet he will trust in him, Job 13. 15. The preaching of Christ melts Mary Magdalene into tears, Luke 7. 38. and we read of little joy mingled with her weeping.
[unspec 2] Secondly, The sweets of our present Sabbath they are gradual: First, Ordinances work conviction, Acts 2. 37. They work upon the Reason, and then they work conversion, Acts 16. 14. They work upon the Conscience; and when we are regenerate, they are first milk to us, 1 Pet. 2. 2. They strengthen the first beginnings of grace, they are breasts of consolation, at which the New-born Saint lies and draws; and afterwards they are stronger meat, Heb. 5. 12, 14. to nourish the believer to a greater adolescence and growth in holiness.
[unspec 3] Thirdly, The sweets of our present Sabbath, they are uncertain; sometimes the Saint meets with a hive of honey at an Ordinance, the truths of Christ are sweet and precious to him, and he is ready to cry out with Archimedes, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , I have found, I have found him whom my soul loveth: at another time, Ordinances are dry breasts to the same Saint, all the Bees are burnt; Opportunities of grace are a dead child to him, like Gideon's fleece with no drops upon it, he can squeeze nothing of comfort or satisfaction to his soul; so that these spiritual riches, are, as the Apostle calls worldly treasures, uncertain demains.
[unspec 4] Fourthly, The sweets of our present Sabbath are faint and imperfect. Here our spiritual delights are only begun, they are perfected in our better Sabbath, here they are interrupted by our weekly labors, there succeeds a hurry of worldly cares, a week laden with the thick clay of business and affairs; but in our heavenly Sabbath, our pleasures and sweets run in a full torrent, and in a constant stream; Here we are lead to our delights by means and ordinances, but above we shall be possessed of our full delights without the help of them, and our God, who is our joy, shall become immediately to us all in all, Col. 3. 11. Indeed much intermission and remissness may be found in our very devotions here, in our services of the highest elevation; David himself, when his heart was most strung with divine affections, and in the best tune, yet then he had his cadencies; his Hallelujahs, and highest strains of praise, came off with a Selah, a prostration of voice; our delights in our earthly Sabbath are only a table in a wilderness, they are only flagons, Cant. 2. 5. which hold a little quantity of wine, and they are compared to Apples, which are only an ordinary fruit.
But the delights of our Sabbath above, are superlative and ineffable: When we are put into possession of glory, we shall feel the sweetness of God's electing love, we shall taste the sweets of Christ's redeeming love, we shall drink joys eternally from the spirit of love, whose loving kindness is infinitely better then life; then we shall need no threatenings to drive us, no promises to lead us, but divine goodness will perfectly and complacentially attract us, that we shall be naturalized to God, and goodness, and be no more able to turn off from that ineffable sweetness, then the load-stone is to convert itself to the West. Augustine saith, That heaven is nothing but the joy of truth. It is remarkable, That the joys of heaven are oftener compared in Scripture to drink, then meat, because there is no labor in chewing them, nor any diminution of them, but they slide down smoothly and fully, and replenish the dilated soul. The whole quire of our powers and faculties shall be fixed in everlasting fruition of unspeakable delight. Now the Saints have some fits of joy, but then they shall have their fill. Now they have many a sweet hour; but joy shall then be a standing dish, and we shall be everlastingly satisfied with the fullness of God's house. Now our memories are slippery in the most captivating Ordinances; but then shall be an actual sensation of divine joys continually; then shall there be joy upon joy, joy above all joy, joy, without which there is no joy, as Augustine excellently. We shall then be perfectly at leisure for God, and see him, we shall see him, and love him, we shall love him, and praise him in the end, and without all end. And in our heavenly Sabbath transcendent delight will arise from our company, (viz.) The Prophets and Apostles, and all the Glorious Martyrs with their marks of honor, Angels, Cherubims and Seraphims, and all that blessed Choir of Spirits, who here have done us many an invisible courtesy, which we never thanked them for, Heb. 1. 14. Those Seraphic spirits shall contribute dews of joy for our refreshing, but the full shower of delight will arise from the sight of God. If Diagoras when he saw his Three Sons crowned in one day at the Olympic games, as Victors, di •• away, when he was embracing them for joy; And good old Simeon, when he saw Christ, but in a body subject to the infirmities of our Natures, having him in his arms, cried out, Now Lord lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen thy salvation. What unspeakable joy and delight will it be to see our Christian Friends and Relations all crowned in one day, with an everlasting Diadem of blessedness which shall never decay. And when the glorious Angels begin their Hallelujahs, the Saints shall also join in the same harmony. O how the Arches of Heaven will echo! such a blend and sympathy of praises shall be in the heavenly chorus, as shall fill the inhabitants of glory with ravishing admiration; and there we shall love one another as our selves, we shall love God and our blessed Savior better then our selves; and Christ shall love us better then we can love ourselves, or one another. O how many joys shall he possess, who shall keep an eternal Jubilee, in the enjoyment of so many and so great beatitudes and felicities of others, as truly as of his own. The Jewish Doctors call the pleasures of our heavenly Sabbath, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 everlasting breathings; our delight stirring up our desires, and our desires feeding upon our delight. The joys above shall not only be transcendent, but universal, filling all the faculties of our souls, refreshing and ravishing all the parts of our bodies; they shall be continued, not interrupted, most sweet, most sincere, elevated to the highest degree of pleasure, extensively reaching to all eternity, intensively wound up to the highest peg of satisfaction and delight, Psal. 36. 9. And the fountane of divine sweetness shall not distill or drop upon the glorified Saints, as Gums from the Tree, or Rose-water from the Still, or Chemical drops from the Alymbeck, but streams of delight shall gently dash upon them, to fill them with joy unspeakable, and full of Glory, Rev. 22. 1. We may conjecture at the body of the Sun by the brightness of the beam; so may we guess what those ecstasies of joy shall be, which shall sweeten our eternal Sabbath, by those fore-tastes and prelibations of joy which the Saints here sometimes feel, 1 Pet. 1. 8. The first fruits of this joy, how do they transport the believer, and carry him even above the world? Insomuch that he scarce knows whether he be in the body, or out of the body, 2 Cor. 12. 2. His senses and faculties are wrapped up to drench in unusual pleasures. Now if the present clusters yield such generous wine, what will the over-flowings of the Vintage yield? What fruits shall we gather from an everlasting harvest? This made Augustine call our Sabbath above, Sabbatum maximum, our greatest Sabbath; Plenitudinem Sabbati, The fullness of a Sabbath; Nay, Sabbatum Sabbatorum, The Sabbath of Sabbaths. Indeed the sweets of our future Sabbath, here they may be admired, but they cannot be comprehended; hereafter we may be filled with them, but we shall not dive to the bottom of them.
[unspec 5] The two Sabbaths differ in this, the one is the representation of the other. Our Sabbath upon Earth doth only adumbrate, and shadow out our Sabbath in Heaven. On our Sabbath below, the body rests from labor; in our heavenly Sabbath, both body and soul shall rest from sin, calamity and misery, and God shall rest in us, and we shall rest in him. In the legal Sabbath, there was no Manna fell on that day, Exod. 16. 27. In the Sabbath above there shall be no ministry, that useful and necessary ordinance shall wholly and forever cease. In our Sabbath below, we leave the world, and the affairs of it, while we go up into the Mount, and converse with Jesus Christ: In our Sabbath above, we shall get above the world, and with Elijah, let fall our mantle, our loose garment of mortality, and put it on no more, but converse with God eternally on the Mount of joy and delight. There are indeed many rare types and representations of our heavenly Sabbath.
[unspec 1] Paradise; which was a promptuary of beauty, pleasure, delight, especially when man's innocence did accent the sweetness of it. How fresh the trees, how sweet the flowers, how musical the birds, how lushious the fruits of this transcendent place, till Adams fall folded up this land-skip, and turned himself out of this Garden of God, that he might dress it no more; and since it is over-grown, insomuch that the remains of it are not known to the most curious searchers after them: But before this breach, the pleasures of Paradise were so transcendent, that the delights of our supernal Sabbath are called Paradise, Rev. 2. 7. 2 Cor. 12. 4. Only the Paradise of the Second Adam, where he met with the saved Thief, Luke 23. 43. transcendently surpasses the Paradise of the First Adam; In that, the presence of God is immediately in the Paradise above, which inhanceth all enjoyments to the supremest height. And therefore Augustine, Clemens Alexandrinus, Anselm, and Aquin as affirm, that Paul, when he was wrapped up into the heavenly Paradise, he saw the Divine Being, entering the place of the blessed, who eternally see God face to face: So that when we mention, or contemplate on the Celestial Paradise, we must cast a shade on Adams Paradise, his pleasant Seat, as falling short below all degrees of comparison.
Secondly, It might be added, that the fruits and delights of Adams Paradise were more calculated to please the sense, and refresh the outward man; But the delights of the upper Paradise are more refined, and principally influence the soul, man's better part.
[unspec 2] The Tabernacle doth sweetly resemble our Sabbath above, Psal. 84. 1. Luke 16. 9. Psal. 15. 1. Rev. 21. 3. especially if we look upon the furniture of it.
First, There was the Ark of the Testimony, Exod. 40. 21. which, as a learned man concludes, denotes the blessed Trinity, whose sight is our happiness above. In the Ark there were the two Tables of the Law, Deut. 10. 12. The golden Pot of Manna, and Aaron's blossoming Rod, Heb. 9. 4. In our heavenly Sabbath the Father will govern us with most holy Laws, which answers to the two Tables; The Son shall be bread of life to us to feed upon, John 6. 33. which answers to the pot of Manna. The Holy Ghost shall eternally fill us with fresh and flourishing graces, which answers to Aaron's blossoming Rod.
Secondly, Over the Ark was the Mercy-Seat, Exod. 25. 21, 22. which expresses our dear Redeemer, who hath promerited not only grace, but glory for us. And from the Mercy-Seat answers were given, which signifies that blessed familiarity which the Saints shall enjoy with the Lord in Glory.
Thirdly, By the Cherubims which were at the two ends of the Mercy-Seat, we may understand the blessed society of Angels, Mat. 22. 30. who shall join with us in a pleasing, and complacential harmony. The praises of the most high being eternally celebrated by the confederate praises of Saints and Angels.
Fourthly, In the Tabernacle there was an Altar, Exod. 27. 1. to denote the sanctity, and the unspotted holiness of our devotion above. Our worship before the Throne, shall resemble the Lamb who sits upon the Throne, in unspotted purity. We shall be always eating of the tree of Life; there shall be no tree of Good and Evil to hazard our disobedience. We shall have no need then to complain of the iniquity of our holy things; then the services of just men shall be as their spirits made perfect. It is not possible, that all tears should be wiped away from the eyes of the Saints, Rev. 21. 4. before all blemishes are fetched out of their persons, and all stains washed away from their services.
Fifthly, In the Tabernacle there was a Candlestick, Exod. 25. 31. to inform us of the clear vision we shall have of God in our heavenly Sabbath, 1 Cor. 13. 12. There shall be no partition wall to debar our sight, no intervenient pillar of a cloud to abate our light, no curtain drawn to cast a shade on our sight, but all shall lie open to make way for our fullest and everlasting views. Then we shall see God intuitively, as the School-men speak; and Moses his request, Exod. 33. 13. shall be answered in every particular. Our knowledge of God shall be intimate and familiar. Our minds shall be a clear sky, without the covering or veil of any darkness; nothing shall remain to interpose or hinder our freest vision of the sacred Trinity.
Sixthly, In the Tabernacle there was a Table on which stood the Shew-bread, Exod. 25. 23, 30. to signify to us, the rare satiety of our blessed fruitions above: In our heavenly Sabbath we shall be satisfied, but never surfeited. Our Masters joy cannot cloy us; the musicks of the Bride-chamber will ravish, but not weary us, they will be our triumph, not our trouble; the songs about the Throne of the Lamb will never put a distaste upon us. Here lies the difference between Earthly and Heavenly delights, the first drown, the other draw out our appetite; the pleasures of this life blunt, of the other life, blow up our desires.
Seventhly, The Table in the Tabernacle was to be made of Shittim-wood, which will not decay or putrefy, to devote the indefective eternity of all our good things above. Christ purchases are like himself, a holy one which will not see corruption. It is observable, that glory which in one place is called a crown of Righteousness, 2 Tim. 4. 8. in another, is called a crown of Immortality, 1 Pet. 5. 4. only to show, that Eternity is the richest pearl in the Saints crown.
[unspec 3] Another representation and type of our heavenly Sabbath and Rest may be the land of Canaan.
First, This plentiful land was freely promised, and as freely given to the people of Israel, Deut. 9. 6. so the gift of God is eternal life, Rom. 6. 23. our heavenly inheritance is the gratuitous bounty of our heavenly father; free grace is our best, and only tenor.
Secondly, The land of Canaan was gained by Conquest; Joshuas sword paved Israel's way to that fruitful soil; their heads were to be crowned with Laurel, the emblem of victory, before their hearts were to be filled with food and gladness, and the lushious plenties of Canaan, which was the larger Paradise of the world. And the delicacies of heaven are given to the Conqueror. This truth is so frequently inculcated in Scripture, and so often pressed by Christ, as if our beloved intended our meditations should dwell there.
Thirdly, The land of Canaan flowed with milk and honey, Josh. 5. 6. It was rich and plenteous to a miracle; holy writ affirms, One Million, three hundred thousand men were maintaned in it, besides women, children and impotent persons, and yet this land was of a small and inconsiderable compass. These outward plenties did only set forth, the copious delights of glory. In our heavenly Sabbath, there are rivers of pleasure, Psal. 36. 8. Legions of Angels, Mat. 26. 53. One hundred forty four thousand of glorified Saints, Rev. 7. 4. Fulness of joy, Psal. 16. 11. and pleasures in the plural number to show their plenty, and pleasures for evermore to denote their eternity.
Fourthly, The Land of Canaan was entered by armed Israelites; but when they had taken possession, the Arms were laid aside, and everyone safe under his own Vine, and his own fig-tree, Mic. 4. 4. And so the Saints in this life put on the whole armor of God, Eph. 6. 12. and in that Coat of Male out-vy Caesar, who fought and was victorious in fifty battles; but death at last puts an end to these sharp encounters, and the Saints weapons, though not their honor, is laid in the dust, and so entering a better Canaan, they sit under the true Vine, John 15. 1. with complacency and inconceivable joy to all everlasting.
[unspec 4] The Temple of Solomon was an illustrious type of our heavenly Sabbath.
First, When that glorious structure was built, there was no noise of ax or hammer; no tool of Iron gave the least disturbance, 1 Kings 6. 7. Every thing was fitted before it was brought, to prevent the clamorous confusions of workmen and their instruments. So our supernal Sabbath in glory shall admit of no noise, no harsh, or displicent sound, no heavy groans or uncomfortable sighs, no roaring out for the disquietness of our heart, or chattering like a Crane in doleful prayer and complaint, there shall be no silent voice of weeping, or soft murmur of a gliding fear; but all these things shall be done away, all capacities of trouble being swallowed up in perfect joy; as the flaming fire-brand is quenched in an Ocean.
Secondly, The Temple was a fixed structure and not portable, to be carried up and down as the Tabernacle was, its station was at Jerusalem, nor was it capable of removal, and for some hundreds of years it remained in its usual place, shining in its gold and glory. And so our future Sabbath shall be immutable, not subject to change or alteration, not ambulatory or in a passage. Our dwellings above are Mansions, John 14. 2. Our enjoyments are stable and inalterable: There we meet fully with God who is our fixed Center. The Apostle saith, our building in heaven is eternal, 2 Cor. 5. 1. It is a building of God not made with hands, and so not subject • o decay or reparations; Art did not frame it, and time cannot loosen or dissolve it. But to revert to that from which there hath been some digression; Our Sabbath below as in a morning blush, doth something resemble our Sabbath above as the Infant in the Cradle doth a man in his full stature or the dim candle, the Sun in its greatest splendor: And let us admire divine indulgence in giving us this faint resemblance, before we come to the Archetype of an everlasting rest. But in the general, thus meditation like the Sun, may run through all the signs of the zodiack, and fly from one spiritual object to another, from the God of the Sabbath to the Sabbath of God, (which subjects have been thus enlarged for its larger circuit) and freely dilate itself as far as our time shall either restrain us, or give us greater leisure; and when, as the Sun, meditation hath fetched its compass, it may begin again.
CHAP. XXVI. Not only Meditation, but Prayer, with other services must fill up the Morning of a Sabbath.
BUT meditation must not enclose the morning of God's holy day as its own proper demeans, nor so grasp that precious time, as to exclude the succession of other divine performances: But as meditation doth well become the first approach of a Sabbath, so prayer in the next place properly takes its course and order. Let us shut up our meditations with prayer, and pray over our meditations; prayer sanctifies everything, and so it makes meditation effectual to the soul, that the pleasing ascents of that holy duty may bring down a blessing with them; Bernard couples prayer and meditation, prayer being luke-warm without meditation, and meditation being unfruitful without prayer. Both duties together being like the Diamond Ring, or beauty and sweetness in the same rose, light and heat in the same 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 Sun. These two duties add reciprocal luster one to another. Now for the better management of this duty on the morning of a Sabbath, we will inquire into these three things.
First, What are the opportunities when we must pray.
Secondly, What are the qualifications how we must pray.
Thirdly, What are the objects for what or whom we must pray.
Our prayer on the morning of the Lord's day,
[unspec 1] First, Must be closet prayer, we must as our Savior saith, Mat. 6. 6. Enter into our closet, and shut the door upon us, and so pray to the Father, &c. solitary prayers usually do not want the company of a reward; Jacob wrestled with the Angel alone, there were no spectators of the combat, and he was not only a Jacob for wrestling, but an Israel for prevailing. Let us begin the Sabbath with secret prayer, and so we may the more freely vent our thoughts, pour out our complaints, make our requests, and send up our desires, not being checked or confined by the audience or observation of others. Patients discover not their distemper before the multitude, but privately to the Physician. A secret prayer in the morning of the Sabbath may ease and fit the heart for the subscquent duties of the whole day; we may kindly bemoan the sins of the past week, humbly acknowledge our indispositions for the present Sabbath; we may open to God the uneven beatings of the pulse of our souls, and sadly bewail the mutinous disorders which are in our bosoms; many things we may unravell to God, we would not proclaim in the ears of an associate assembly. It is observable, that our dear Jesus who had many things upon his heart, he would take the privacy of place to pray in, and would lay hold on the most retired seasons for that duty, Luke 6. 12. He would pray all night, that not so much as the Sun might be a witness of his with-drawn devotions; the world must not hear what he had on his heart to speak to his Father. Surely the closet is a good porch to the Sanctuary, and we are made the fitter for the public by chamber-devotion: First, the Evening star riseth alone, and then it joins with the stars of the night. When we have opened our case to God in secret, then we are more prepared to converse with God in Societies. Showers in the night refresh the Garden, and fructify the ground though no eye behold those sweet and seasonable drops. If we with Cornelius make our flight to God in solitary prayer, Acts 10. 2. we may receive his answer: your prayers are come up to God, ver. 4. And so the following Sabbath may be a prosperous gale to blow us nearer to our Eternal rest.
[unspec 2] From our closets we must come down into our families, and join with them in the same holy duty of prayer. Family prayer lies under a command to be used on every day, and bitter imprecations are poured out on those families which neglect it, Jer. 10. 25. The Prophet calls for full vials to be poured out upon them. But prayer never better becomes a family, then on the morning of the Lord's day. Our closet devotions and family prayers common to other days, must not be omitted on this blessed day, but rathet augmented. It is worth our notice, that the first service of the Jews on their Sabbath was burning incense before the Lord, Exod. 30. 7. Now family prayer is the burning of incense in our family; every branch of the family joining in prayer, doth as it were fill his hand with incense, and so offer it up in Christ's merit, which is the sweetness of our incense to the father of mercies; and how perfumed must that house and family be where so much incense is offered, Let our whole family in the morning of the Sabbath cry out, seek the Lord, O our souls. As Mary Magdilen, she was early up to seek him whom her soul loved, Mat. 20. 1. John 20. 1. Mark 16. 2. She was last at the Cross, and first at the Sepulcher: And O that our love could keep pace with hers. The whole family shall be as morning stars to sing together, Job 18. 7. and pour out their souls in the bosom of God; this is worship like that of heaven, where the multitude, the whole host of heaven sing forth the praises of God together. And in this we follow the clew of Reason.
First, Families have their wants as well as single persons, they may want prepared hearts, composed spirits, exerted graces to meet with God on his holy day; that which is the complaint of one, may be the moan of the whole family; as if some one string in an instrument be struck, another string trembles: heart may answer heart throughout the whole family.
Secondly, Spiritual grace is as necessary to the whole family, as it is to any particular person, and so ardent prayer is as indispensible. The whole land of Egypt came to Joseph for Corn because of their want: Every foul in the family had need to beg for the beauties of Christ, that he may meet pleasingly with his beloved on his own day. Grace is the comeliness of the Servant as well as the Master, of the Child as well as of the Parent. In the fourth Commandment, the injunction is laid upon all within our gates to keep holy the Sabbath.
Thirdly, Moreover the whole family is to attend upon public worship; and prayer is both the plow and the harrow to prepare the ground of our hearts to meet with God, and to receive the immortal seed which is able to save our souls, Jam. 1. 21. Indeed the Apostle adviseth us to pray continually, 1 Thes. 5. 17. but then more especially, when we are going to the public assembly, to prepare us for those solemn Ordinances wherein we join issue with the Saints in holy worship, and for this God will be entreated. Families must not rush upon Ordinances as the Horse into the battle, but prayer must prepare the way, and so let us feed upon the Manna of the word, and drink of the truths of the Gospel.
Fourthly, Family prayer makes a musical harmony: Consort is the life of melody, a heavenly host celebrated Christ's Nativity, Luke 2. 13. Not a single Seraphim, but a quire of Angels. In the primitive times there was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . One common consent and harmony of prayers. And Clemens Alexandrinus tells us, That in the golden days of the Church, there used to be on the Lord's day a pile and heap of suppliants, having one voice and one mind in their prayers and addresses to God. It was the wish of Athanasius, in his Apology to the Emperor Constantius, That all might lift up the same voice to God without any dissonancy or disorder. United prayers are the stronger voice, united sighs are the thicker cloud, united tears are the fuller stream, and so make the deeper impression upon the divine breast. The devotions of a family must needs make a greater noise then one single cry, to awaken the Lord to give answers of love and grace. A single instrument may make music, but no harmony.
[unspec 2] As we must take the opportunities of prayer in the closet and in the family on the morning of a Sabbath, so we must look to the qualifications of our prayers. Every prayer is not an engine to batter heaven; we must so pray, that we may obtain, we must therefore look to the character, as well as to the custom of praying.
[unspec 1] Our prayers both in the closet, in the family, and likewise in the public assembly, must be fetched from the heart, not lip labor only, then they are lost labor. Tertullian tells us, The Christians in the primitive times needed not a monitor in their prayers to dictate to them, they prayed from their own hearts, which suggested to them seasonable and suitable petitions. And the Apostle tells us, That the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much, Jam. 5. 16. The original word is, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . A working prayer, when the heart works in holy affections and yearnings, as the Be in the midst of its wax and honey. Success may be much known by the heat and warmth of our spirits, Luke 11. 8. We translate the word importunity, but it is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , impudency. In the times of the Law, the sweet perfumes in the censers were burnt before they asscended. When we go to our closets or our families, we must look to our affections in our addresses to God; get them fixed by the Holy Ghost, that they flame up towards God in devout and religious ascents. There is language in groans, a voice there is in weeping, Psal. 6. 6. Sighs have their speech and are articulate before God. Indeed it is no easy thing to work a lazy dead heart to a necessary height of affection, the weights always running down-ward; but they must be wound up by force as the weight of a clock must be tugged up by the strings: And when our affections are pulliced up, it is hard to keep them so; like Moses his hands, they are apt to faint and fall down, but a continued violence and force must keep our affections in their highest sphere: The Bird cannot stay in the Air without continual flight and motion of the wings, nor can we persist in affectionate prayer without constant toil with our own hearts; affections faint, and thoughts scatter, weariness makes way for wandering, so that we must take pains to keep our affections sailing towards heaven, we must keep the wind of the spirit and row at the Oar, that we be not sinfully becalmed, and so miss of the end of our voyage. Justin Martyr observes, That the prefect of the assembly in his time used to pray with his utmost strength. So then our prayers on the morning of the Sabbath must be cordial and affectionate.
[unspec 2] Our prayers must be clothed with humility, we must pray in a sense of divine purity and of our own unworthiness, Luke 18. 23. Not only the bended knee, but the submissive spirit becomes prayer. Christ himself kneeled down and prayed, Luke 22. 41. On the morning of a Sabbath we have great things to beg, and we ourselves usually give our charity not to the sturdy, but to the stooping beggar: If we look for blessings from God's hand, it is fit we should lie at God's feet. Christ himself melted, Heb. 5. 7. and shall not we stoop and be humble in prayer? Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed, Isa. 38. 2. as being conscious of his own unworthiness, covering his face with blushes which the world must not see, and so confounded in himself, he pours out his soul before God. In this holy duty we lie at the allowance of God's mercy, and most rational it is we should lie at the footstool of God's Throne: The Publicans stroke on his breast, which was an evidence of his humility and self-abhorrency, made his way to that acceptation, the proud Pharisee could not attain unto.
[unspec 3] Our closet and family prayers on the morning of the Sabbath must be sharpened, and spirited with the sense of want, and with hungerings and desires after supplies. The beggar crieth loudest, his rags make him roar; we are cloyed in our apprehensions, and we are cool in our Petitions. Necessity inflames importunity. Were we but sensible on the morning of a Sabbath (to come to our case in hand) what need we have of sins pardon, of an understanding heart, of a hearing ear, of a holy and suitable frame of spirit for divine Ordinances, and to run profitably through the duties of the whole Sabbath; surely our hearts would be like coals of Juniper, Psal. 120. 4. we should burn with ardency and importunity. We pray most fervently, when we pray most feelingly; want is the bellows of desire. Let us therefore study a sense of our spiritual wants, and that will set the wheel of prayer on going with the greatest speed and eagerness.
[unspec 4] Let these introductory prayers on a Sabbath be animated with faith, That grace makes every duty weight: and every service without it, if it be put into the balance, will be found too light. In our prayers we must be persuaded of the mercifulness of God's nature, to incline and bow his ear to them, of the riches of his promises to encourage them, of the infiniteness of his power to fulfill and accomplish them, or else all our requests are like the bird with clipt wings, they may flutter up and down the ground, but they can rise no higher. We must believe that God can fill every chink of our desires, and that he will send home the Dove with the Olive branch in his mouth. These annexed Scriptures will further evince this truth, 1 John 5. 14. Mat. 21. 22. Jam. 1. 6. Psal. 55. 17. Where David saith, He shall hear my voice. O rare act of vigorous faith! In a word, Then we pray aright, when we pray in the Holy Ghost. His concurrence is necessary: God will own nothing in prayer but what comes from his spirit, any other voice is strange and barbarous to him: God delights not in the flaunting of parts, and in the unsavory belches of a carnal heart, nor in the tunable cadency of words, which is only an empty ring in God's ear. But the method of the Lord is, to prepare the heart, and then to grant the request, Psal. 10. 17. Our heart is opened first, and then God opens his ear. Fire from heaven to consume the sacrific was the solemn token of acceptation heretofore, 1 Kings 18. 38. Fire from heaven is the token still, even an holy ardour wrought in us by the Holy Ghost. Indeed prayer is a work too hard for us: we can babble of ourselves, but we cannot pray without the Holy Ghost; we can put words into prayer, but the spirit must put affections, without which, prayer is but cold prattle, and spiritless talk. Our necessities may sharpen, but they cannot enliven our prayers. The carnal man may cry unto God, as young Ravens, and as the rude Mariners did in Jonahs ship; but now gracious affection is quite another thing. There may be cold and raw wishes after grace in an unbeliever, but serious and spiritual desires after the same blessed gift, these we must have from the Holy Ghost.
[Quest.] Did we consider what prayer properly is, we should then easily see the necessity of the spirits assistance. Prayer is a work which will cost us travel of heart, Acts 1. 14. a working spirit, Jam. 5. 16. an earnest striving, Rom. 15. 30. and contending with God himself, Col. 4. 12. It is very observable, that the party Jacob wrestled with, Gen. 32. 25. is called a Man, an Angel, nay, he is called God; a man for his shape, and the form he assumed; an Angel to denote the second person in the Trinity, who is the messenger of the Covenant, Mal. 3. 1. and this party is called God, Gen. 32. 30. It was such an Angel as blessed Jacob, which was a work proper to God. But now if it be demanded what it is, to pray in the holy Ghost? [Answ.] It may be answered:
First, The spirit helps us in prayer in a way of gifts, that the heart may not be bound up, and that we may have necessary words to give vent for our affections; It is the spirit which bestows the gift of prayer, that we may enlarge ourselves to God on all occasions, 1 Cor. 14, 15. But this gift is much bettered by Industry, Hearing, Meditation, Reading, Conference, nay, by prayer itself, such holy exercises may be auxiliary to this excellent gift, for the spirit worketh by means, as the Sun shineth in the air, in which it maketh its glittering ascents.
Secondly, There is the gracious assistance of the spirit, which is either habitual or actual.
First, Habitual grace is necessary to prayer, Zach. 12. 10. where there is grace, there will be supplications; as soon as the Child is born it falls on crying, Acts 9. 11. Prayer is the kindly duty of the New Creature; the regenerate person is easily drawn into God's presence: when once we are renewed by the Holy Ghost, we shall certainly, and sweetly pray in the Holy Ghost, we shall offer up spiritual devotions acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Secondly, There is the actual assistance which we have from the spirit; when a man is regenerate, yet he cannot pray as he ought, unless he be still moved and assisted by the blessed spirit. Now these actual motions do either concern;
First, The matter of prayer, which is suggested by the spirit of promise; for let a man alone, and he will soon run into a temptation, and cry for that which is inconvenient, and it would be severity in God to grant it, and therefore the direction of the Holy Ghost is necessary, that we may not ask a Scorpion instead of a Fish, a stone instead of bread: We take counsel of lusts and interests when we are left to our private spirit; now the Holy Ghost teacheth us to ask, not only what is lawful, but what is expedient for us, so that the will of God may take place before our own inclinations. Or
Secondly, These actual motions of the spirit concern, the manner of our prayers; now in prayer we have immediately to do with God, and therefore we should take great heed in what manner we come to him. The right manner is, when we come with affection, with confidence, with reverence:
First, With affection, Rom. 8. 26. It is the holy Ghost sets us on groaning; words are but the outside of prayer, sighs and groans are the language which God will understand; we learn to mourn from the Turtle, from him who descended in the form of a Dove, Mat. 3. 16. He draws sighs from the heart, tears from the eyes, and moans from the soul. Parts may furnish us with eloquence, but the spirit inflames us with love, that earnest reaching forth of the soul after God, and the things of God: That holy importunity, that spiritual violence which is often used in holy prayer, comes only from the spirit. Many a prayer is neatly ordered, musically delivered, and gravely pronounced, but all these artifices, they are the curiosities of man, and savor nothing of the holy spirit; then it speaketh the spirit to be in a prayer, when there is life and power, and the poor suppliant sets himself to wrestle with God, as if he would overcome him in his own strength.
Secondly, With confidence. In Prayer we must come as Children, and cry, Abba Father, Rom. 8. 16. usually we do not mind this part of the spirits help in prayer; we look to gifts and enlargements, but not to this Child-like confidence, that we may be able to call God Father, without reproach or hypocrisy; not seriously considering it is the language of a Child, which will only prevail upon the affections of a Father.
Thirdly, With Reverence. That we may be serious and awful. God is best seen in the light of his spirit; the Heathens could say, We need light from God, when we speak of, or to God. That sense of the Lord's greatness, and those fresh and awful thoughts that we have of his Majesty in prayer, are stirred up by the Holy Ghost. He uniteth, and gathereth our hearts together, that they may not be unravelled, and scattered abroad in vain and impertinent thoughts, Eph. 6. 18. And therefore to wind up this particular, (which hath been more copiously handled, then usual) when we go to pray at any time, and so consequently in our Closets, or Families on the morning of the Sabbath, let us cast ourselves upon the Holy Ghost, as appointed by the Father, and purchased by the Son, to help us in this sweet and serviceable duty, Rom. 8. 26. We are often tugging and laboring at it, and can make no work of it; but the spirit cometh and contributes his assistance, and then we launch forth, and our sails are filled, and we go on prosperously in that omniprevalent duty. A good Expositor gives this gloss on, Rev. 1. 10. John was in the spirit on the Lord's day, (i. e.) he was in prayer upon the Lord's day; the spirit mightily assisting us in prayer, makes strange and glorious impressions upon us: As it is reported of Basil, That when the Emperor Valens came in upon him, while he was in Prayer, he saw such luster in his face, as struck the Emperor with terror, and he fell backwards. Prayer can make a great change in us, and work great things for us; and therefore the management of this duty must be dispatched with the greatest care and exactness.
[unspec 3] We must not only take our opportunities for prayer on the morning of a Sabbath, and see to the qualifications of of that duty, to direct our requests, that they may not miss the mark of a blessing: But we must see to the matter of our prayers, that our devotions be not only sweet, but seasonable, not only fervent but pertinent: there may be petitions which are lawful, which are not so expedient for the season of a Sabbath; and therefore to secure us against such mistakes, we must be informed what seasonably to beg of God, as the boon of the instant opportunity.
[unspec 1] We must put up our prayers for the Minister, who is to be God's mouth to us, in the public worship of the Sabbath; we must pray that God would give him a door of utterance. He that must open the hearts of the people to receive the word savingly, must open the lips of the Minister to preach the word effectually. How often doth Paul entreat the prayers of the people; that Seraphic Apostle would not set sail without fresh gales of the people's prayers. Indeed the preaching of the Word is an arduous affair, and cannot be success fully managed without divine help and supplement, which must be begged by prayer and importunity. Ambrose saith, That prayers are the weapons of a Minister. It may be truly added, that prayer must put weapons into the hands of a Minister, for the killing and slaughtering of the lusts and sins of the people. We must therefore pray on the morning of a Sabbath, that the Minister may open his mouth boldly, and publish freely the mysteries of the Gospel; that he may speak the Word truly, sincerely, powerfully and profitably, delivering what is suitable to our present condition; For he that guided the arrow to kill a wicked Ahab, 1 Kings 22. 34. must guide the truth to hit and destroy a cursed lust and corruption. A learned man tells us, we must pray for three things for the Minister:
[unspec 1] That God would give him the Faculty, the Liberty and the Efficacy of preaching, That God would open the door, that he may come out in the fullness of the Gospel of Christ to our souls.
[unspec 2] That God would give him dexterity and wisdom to improve his gift and faculty. Everyone which takes a Lute in his hand cannot make sweet music on it. There is a holy Art in the Ministry, and this we must beg for, that God would give it to the Minister who plies at our souls. The Word is a Sword, Eph. 6. 17. We must pray that the Minister may wield it to the highest advantage, and that he may do the greatest executions upon our carnal hearts.
[unspec 3] That the Minister may speak, as becomes him, with that gravity, affection, zeal, and soul-awakening power, which may render him a faithful Ambassador of Jesus Christ. And we should consider the weightiness of a Ministers work, how tremendous and formidable it is. The larger the Ship is, the more strength is required for the launching of it. Prayers are more then needful that the Minister may do the work of God, in the strength of God. One saith, A faithful Minister is the treasure of the Church; our prayers should be, that this treasure may be spent in the enriching of our souls. Surely preachers are much carried out upon the people's prayers. It is prayer fetcheth the coal from the Altar to touch their tongues, and causeth these fishers of men to cast the Net on the right side of the Ship.
[unspec 2] We must pray for the Congregation which associates with us. Our Savior saith, Luke 22. 32. When we are converted, we must strengthen the Brethren. The Apostle avers, we must prefer others before ourselves, Rom. 12. 10. And surely then we must strive to advantage others as well as ourselves. Cyprian saith, All Christian people are one thing; but there must needs be a greater unity in the same society and congregation, which is as a large family. In our heavenly Sabbath, it will be our joy to see one another; there the assembly of the first born shall congratulate the happiness of one another: and then surely on our Sabbath here below, it must be a grateful service to pray for one another. Thy prayers may prevail with the Lord, who always hath the key in his hand to open another's heart, as well as thy own. Some sympathy thou shouldst have with the members of Christ who join with thee, and prayer is the best evidence of this fellow-feeling. Christ prayed on the Cross for his adversaries, Luke 23. 34. and wilt not thou pray in the Closet for the flock with whom thou art to mingle? Let the miraculous workings of Christ's heart be attractive to the meltings of thine, that a shower of the spirit may fall upon all that hear the word with thee, Acts 10. 44. God can give a shower, as well as a drop of his spirit; and let me add, this will be charity which may speak thee to be more then sounding brass, or a tinkling Cymbal.
[unspec 3] As we must pray for persons, so we must pray for things too on the morning of God's holy day.
[unspec 1] We must pray, that the Gospel may run and be glorious, and that that sacred leaven may leaven the whole lump. Let us consider,
First, The work of the Gospel is glorious, it begets grace which is the seed of glory, it is instrumental to bring to glory. The glorified Saints which are now in their triumphs, are eternally praising God for the blessed and glorious Gospel.
Secondly, The work of the Gospel is necessary; where there is no vision, the people perish, Prov. 29. 18. It is by the Call of the powerful and divine Gospel, souls are brought home to Christ, who is the great Shepherd of our souls; the music of the Gospel allures us; the truths of the Gospel enlighten us; the power of the Gospel saves us, Rom. 1. 16. Take the Gospel out of the world, and it is only a larger Dungeon, a wast howling wilderness, the broad rode which leads to eternal destruction. If the people of Constantinople so honored the Ministry of Chrysostom, as they could rather want the Sun, then want it, of how much more value is the light of the salvifical Gospel?
[unspec 1] And Thirdly, This glorious and necessary work of the Gospel is much furthered by prayer. The Minister preacheth not, without annexing prayer to the word; and sometimes the Saints prayers obtain that for the Minister which his own doth not. However a multitude of prayers must carry the greater force, and be the most likely battery against Heaven; The wise man saith, Eccl. 4. 9. Two are better then one; and as in other things, so in devotion. Single prayers may be like the single hairs of Samson, but united devotions are like the locks of Samson, which were full of extraordinary strength. The prayers of many are an united troop, which promises more probably victory and success; and therefore let us earnestly beg in our Closets and in our Families on the morning of the Sabbath, that the Gospel may ride on triumphantly in conquering, and to conquer, and that many may fall captive before the power and force of it. The conquests of the Gospel are most amiable, when the engine of our captivity becomes the object of our love; and we who are taken are not prisoners but proselytes. The Sword of the word saves, not slays, and it is only sharp when it is ineffectual. This was the glory of the primitive times, that the Gospel increased, Acts 6. 7. That the Gospel was spread, Acts 13. 49. That the Gospel grew and multiplied, Acts 12. 24. This was the gold of those golden times; the Gospel made a multitude of converts, and with its Doctrine leavened the world: And so we should be earnest in prayer for Gospel propagation, that the heaven of the Church might be full of stars. And to spirit this argument now before us.
Let us take notice, that by the propagation of the Gospel, the Kingdom of Christ is much enlarged; It must speak a pleasant day, when the Sun of Righteousness scatters more plenteously his enlightening and refreshing beams. Christ's Glory in the World is the Saints both wish and happiness; as the Members are honored, when the Crown is set upon the head; and nothing more advances Christ on the Earth, then the stupendous success of the Gospel.
[unspec 2] And by the Gospels progress Satan his power is enfeebled in the world, which is most complacential to the friends of the Bridegroom. This blessed spread causeth Satan to fall like lightning, Luke 10. 18. His cursed walls fall down at the sounding of the Trumpet of the Gospel; it is deplorable to consider what power Satan hath had in those Nations which have wanted the Preaching of the Gospel: How did he bring the Philistines to worship a Dagon, the Sidonians Ashtaroth, the Grecians to worship Apollo, the Latins Jupiter and other God's and Goddesses, wanton and lascivious Deities; nay, others their God Remphan, Figures which they made, Acts 7. 43. Such abominations have clouded the Land, 2 Kings 23. 13. where the light of the Gospel hath not broken forth; nay, where the Gospel makes no progress, there Salvation is wholly exiled, Rom. 1. 16. And how lushious soever the enjoyments of such a place may be, their souls must pay the reckoning. Though such a Nation had the milk and honey of Canaan, the spices of Arabia, the gums of Egypt, the gold of India, yet wanting a glory-Gospel, Eternal death is mingled with all these dainties, this Jubilee only reacheth to the grave: And the Inhabitants of such a place only tread on Carpets and Roses to hell; life is not within their walls, nor Salvation within their Palaces. When the Apostle would dispute the privileges of the Jews, he brings in this as their greatest; To them were committed the Oracles of God, Rom. 3. 2. Christ is the Sun, the Ministers are the stars, and the Gospel is the light of a Nation. The famine of the word is the plague of a place. To enjoy Pastors after God's own heart is the sweetness of a promise, Jer. 3. 15. Golden Mines which are the rich linings of the Earth, may make a place or a Nation gaudy, but it is the Gospel only can make a Nation glorious; And Satan hath least footing there where the Gospel is most scattered and disseminated: where the Gospel is either wholly wanting or penned up, what prodigious evils over-run that place, and how doth Satan reign and rage! The Scriptures tell us of the unnatural lusts of Sodom, the pride and wantonness of Tyre, Ezek. 27. 3. The cruelty and ambition of Babylon, nor may we omit the Turkish Polygamy, the Heathens Idolatry, the Indians brutish nakedness at this day, where the Gospel takes no place. It is no wonder to hear of bloody Nero's, lascivious Caracalla's, and frantic Domitians, those monsters of men who were strangers to the sweets, the power and light of the Gospel. It is the Gospel lays the ax to the root of Satan's power, and where this blessed light shines not, or very faintly, the Prince of darkness exercises a cursed sway, and a destructive Sovereignty.
[unspec 3] By the progress of the Gospel our consummate blessedness is hastened and secured; for the more efficacious the Gospel is, the more maturated and mellowed we are for heaven and eternity. The Gospel is like the Sun to the fruits, or the shower to the flowers, which ripens the one, and blows and draws out the scent and sweetness of the other; we grow in strength and spiritual stature by the power and efficacy of the Ordinances and Preaching of the Gospel. We might likewise fall into the thoughts
[unspec 1] That there are many opposites to the Gospel, as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, 2 Tim. 3. 8. And thus Stephen in preaching Christ was opposed by the Sanhedrin of the Jews, and truth was buffeted by Cries, Storms, and Stoning of the Preacher, Acts 7. 57, 58. The building up of souls, like the building of Jerusalem, will meet with Sanballat’s and Tohias to race the very foundation, Neh. 4. 3. Satan's instruments will hinder Christ's work.
[unspec 2] The worlds persecutions are ready to obstruct the progress of the Gospel. Threats and flames like the Angel which stood with a flaming sword, Gen. 3. 24. are ready to keep the soul from entering Paradise. And when persecution arises for the Gospel sake, men's fear often shuts out men's faith, and few will close with a persecuted Gospel.
[unspec 3] It may be hinted, how the Sun of the Gospel is often clouded with reproaches. Paul was called a Babbler, a setter forth of strange God's, Acts 17. 18. The Gospel is often reviled where it cannot be rooted out, and it must wear the habit where it doth not endure the execution of a Malefactor; it is often wounded by the sword of the tongue, where it escapes the sword of the hand.
[unspec 4] Nay the evil lives of those who preach and profess the Gospel, put no small stop to the enlargement and progress of it; and therefore what need of strong and numerous prayers to God, That he would give the Gospel a free and uninterrupted passage into the hearts of all that hear it, seeing it is encompassed with so many impediments and obstructions?
[unspec 2] We must pray in our closets and in our families on the morning of the Sabbath, that the Ordinances of Christ may accomplish their designed events, that God would clothe them with his own power, and that they may be mighty in operation for the bringing in and building up of many souls; and that the Saints may see the power, and the glory of God in the Sanctuary. There is no greater reproach to a Congregation or a people then barren Ordinances, that they should be clouds without water, and breasts without milk, and that God should give them a miscarrying womb; pray therefore earnestly before thou comest to the public Assembly, that God would take away this reproach. Indeed it is a mournful consideration, that the blossoms of holy Ordinances, which promise hopefully to bring forth fruit, should on a sudden be blasted either with divine withdrawings, or our own neglect. Prayer is necessary for the success of Ordinances, as a right wind is for the Ship which sets forth, and a fresh wind to fill the sails to carry it to its desired Port. And we are the more comfortably induced to pray for that which is most consonant and agreeable to the Divine Will: Now nothing can be more pleasing to the Lord, then that our prayers should not be in vain, but return fraught with success and advantage, and that the seed of the Word should fall into good ground, and so we should not hear in vain. Let us therefore lie at God's feet, for that which is so according to God's heart.
[unspec 3] But as we must pray for other persons and other things on the morning of a Sabbath, so more especially must we pray for ourselves. The wise man saith, Prov. 16. 1. The preparations of the heart of man are from the Lord: And he that makes provisions of grace must prepare the heart for grace; we must make our approach to the God of Ordinances, before we come to the gate of Ordinances; he that gives us the privilege, must teach us how to use it. Let us then earnestly beg.
First, That God would enlighten our minds, (let us begin at the head.) The Apostle saith, Eph. 5. 8. That in ourselves we are darkness. Not dark in the concrete, but darkness in the abstract, which shows our own incapacity to understand Gospel-mysteries; of ourselves we are as Paul when he was first unhorsed by Christ, Acts 9. 8, 9. blind, and had need to be led by the hand: Nature's eye hath a mist before it, and cannot of itself see the glorious things of the Gospel, 1 Cor. 2. 14. But it is the blessed spirit must scatter this mist, must take away the scales from the eye of our understanding, and make way for an apprehension of the glad tidings of Salvation; which spirit, saith our Savior, is obtained by prayer, Luke 11. 13. And if we have any feeling of our own blindness, and not, as Prisoners in a dungeon, laugh at the Sun; or if we have any high esteem of the great things of the Law, Hos. 8. 12. if we see the word with the eye of the Psalmist, Psal. 19. 7, 8, 9, 10.
First, To be perfect in its nature.
Secondly, Predominant in its effects, converting sinful, making wise simple, and rejoicing saddened souls.
Thirdly, Various in its operations, rellishing the soul, rejoicing the heart, opening the eyes, pleasing the taste, enriching the believer; all which are attributed to it; nay, if the word be everlasting in its duration, which the Psalmist strongly avers, Psal. 19. 91. and is likewise attested, Rev. 14. 6. we should then be importunate for that directive spirit, which can lead us into the right understanding of this most glorious word. This manuduction of the spirit was the sum of that precious promise which Christ when about leaving the world made to his drooping Disciples, Joh. 16. 13. And how earnestly doth the Psalmist importune this very mercy, That God would open his eyes, that he might behold wondrous things out of his Law, Psal. 119. 18. God must give us the prospect of the glories of Divine truth. This eye-salve we must beg of the Father before we go to the public Ordinances on the blessed Sabbath.
Secondly, As we must pray that God would take away the scales from our eyes, so likewise that he would remove the caul from our hearts, that he would open our hearts to receive the word: Judgment discerns truth, but affection embraceth it. Indeed the understanding takes a view of God's word, and finds it to be holy, just and good: But the heart entertains it, and lays it up as its choicest treasure. A poor man goes by a Goldsmiths shop and seeth Money, Jewels, and Plate, but he is not enriched by this wealth; and a traveler in his journey takes a view of pleasant Lands, delicate Mountains, and amiable Prospects, but his own Tenure is not amplified by all that he seeth. So our judgment views truth, and is convinced of its beauty and excellency, but the heart only espouses the blessed truths of God, and makes them his own to all intents and purposes. Gospel discoveries are no riches till they are locked up in the heart; and therefore God must be entreated for this thing; for he that opens the eye must open the heart, or else when the Sermon is done, all the Prospect is over, and we are not at all the better. Lydia's attending was unavailable until God opened her heart, Arts 16. 14. The Apostle speaks of receiving truth in the love thereof, 2 Thes. 2. 10. Truth is pleasant to the Understanding, but profitable to the Will. Then the Gospel advantageth us, when the Doctrine of it is not only the guide of our eye, but the good of our heart. It is love and affection which squeezeth the Grapes of truth, and maketh it generous wine: to the soul. Where the word Preached by Peter wrought upon the Jews, it pricked them to the heart, Acts. 2. 37. If we buy the truth as Solomon adviseth us, Prov. 23. 23. the heart must be the Chapman: If we taste the word, 1 Pet. 2. 1, 2. the heart must be the Palate; we then relish truth when we affect it. If we delight in truth, Psal. 119. 47. It is the joy and the rejoicing of the heart, as Jeremy speaks, Jer. 15. 16. A learned man observes, It is the love of truth which is one of those graces which accompany Salvation: Therefore on the morning of a Sabbath, let us importune the Lord to engage our hearts in the service of truth, and for the entertainment of it; he who searches must draw the heart.
Thirdly, Let us wrestle with God for the strengthening of our memories, that he would make them pillars of Marble to write divine truth on. It is very sad, when heavenly Doctrines are written in sand or dust, and after our hearing of them, they run out again as the sands in the hour glass; sad it is, that truth which cost so dear should be lost so soon. If God is so gracious to keep a book of remembrance for our discourses, Mal. 3. 16. how serious should we be to keep a book of remembrance for Gospel discoveries. It is most reasonable that those truths which were bought with Christ's blood, should be wrought on our hearts: Indeed in this case to forget our mercies, is to forsake them. How earnest was the Apostle Peter, that the Saints might not forget those Doctrines which he • ad preached; how doth he reduplicate his care and their duty, 2 Pet. 1. 12, 13. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, yea, I think it meet as long as I am in this Tabernacle, to stir you up, by putting you in remembrance: And so in the fifth verse, Moreover I will endeavor that you may be able after my decease, to have these things always in remembrance. Thus this blessed Apostle again and again stirs up and urges their mindfulness and remembrance of those Gospel truths he had discovered to them, and presses that the Gospel might not die with them when he was dead and gone. Our memories are naturally sieves of vanity, and therefore need divine assistance to close up the chinks and stop the holes, that the waters of life run not out in waste. Indeed man's memory is never so useful as in the time of Ordinances; it is then a sacred Register, and a holy repository, like the Ark where the two Tables in which the Decalogue was written, were put and lodged: After a good heart and a good life, nothing more conduceth to man's happiness then a good memory. Forgetfulness is the grave of God's truth, and man's treasure; what I forget, I can neither dwell upon by meditation, nor feed upon by love and affection, nor live upon in a holy and fruitful conversation. Forgotten promises cannot support my faith, forgotten commands cannot regulate my life, forgotten truths cannot enrich my mind. Forgetfulness is never happy but when injury is the object, when we bury our injuries in that silent sepulcher. One glorious office of the spirit is to bring things divine to our remembrance, John 16. 26. and to fasten truth upon the soul; we should therefore be earnest with God on the morning of a Sabbath, to cause his spirit to execute this blessed office. For though in preaching of the word, the Mysteries of the Gospel are propounded to us, yet it is the spirit must open our minds to understand the word, else it will be a book sealed as the Prophet speaks, Isa. 29. 11. It is the spirit must give us wisdom to apply the word, Eph. 1. 17, 18. It is the spirit must support our memory to retain the word. A learned man observes, The Holy Ghost performs his office, not only by revealing truth to us, but by imprinting it upon us: Else the sounding of the Gospel will be like the sounding of a Clock after it hath struck, a little noise there is for the present, but it ceases by degrees, and at last no sound at all is heard. In a word, forgetful hearers go from Ordinances just as they came to them, like the Beasts in Noah's Ark, they went in unclean, and they came out unclean: how necessary then is it, that we should pray for a firm memory to record sacred truth, as well as a free heart to entertain it.
Fourthly, Let us on the morning of a Sabbath pray for a tender conscience to fall down before the power and force of the word. Conscience is the strongest Fort for the word to take, it is the most unruly patient for the word to cure: Oftentimes the word takes the ear; nothing is more musical, Ezek. 33. 32. The word takes the tongue; nothing more commended then the Preacher and the Sermon, Ezek. 33. 31. Nay, the work taketh the affections, Mark 6. 20. Herod that miscreant Prince heard John the Baptist gladly. Nay, often the word takes the judgment; nothing is accounted more rational. The fickle Jews were convinced, never man spake as Jesus Christ, John 7. 46. But all this while conscience lies asleep, and is not awakened from its dream: Conscience all this while is as fast asleep in the bosom as Jonah in the ship, Jon. 1. 6. and nothing minds the storm. Conscience may be seared, 1 Tim. 4. 2. and so feel nothing of the sharpness of the word; conscience may be defiled, 1 Tit. 15. and so mind nothing of the m • ssage of the word; conscience may be evil, Heb. 10. 22. and so fling away from the warnings of the word; and therefore how should we beg of God that conscience may be impartial in waiting upon holy Ordinances. A yielding conscience is the best auditor at a Sermon. This was Josiah's praise, he wept, and was tender at the hearing of the Law, 2 Chron. 34. 27. The soul lies in a fair way to life and Salvation, when conscience blushes at the reproof of sin, when conscience startles at the hearing of judgment, when conscience is convinced of the necessity of Christ, and of the beauty of holiness; and that only a holy life leads to a holy God. Indeed the principal work of the Gospel is to deal with conscience; and it is the great work of God himself in the Gospel to rouse conscience from its sleepiness, to quiet its rage, to take away its prejudices, and to bring it into a calm temper, that with meekness it may receive the engraffed word, which is able to save the soul, Jam. 1. 21. Men of polluted consciences can arm themselves against the assaults of the word; now, that we should lay down the weapons, and submit to the force and power of truth, this is to be begged by solicitous and importunate prayer.
Fifthly, We must entreat the Lord that the fruit of all his holy Ordinances, may appear in our lives. The life of Ordinances lies in living Ordinances; our sanctity only commends the Sanctuary; to hear the word speaks some profession, but to live the word only speaks Religion: It is very observable, that all those Israelites who heard God speaking from Mount Sinai the ten Commandments, not living up to the tenor of those ten words, as Moses calls them, Deut. 10. 2. they all fell in the Wilderness; none but Joshua and Caleb came safe to Canaan. The sight of Physic doth not cure the patient, but the application. The word doth not advantage us as it is musical, but as it is medicinal, as it is taken inwardly and heats the corrupt heart, and the cure will easily be seen in a fruitful conversation. We then become the Gospel when holiness is our dress: Those Sermons are most fairly printed, which are most conscientiously practiced. A Sermon of charity is best seen in our alms, a Sermon of self-denial is best seen in our carrying the Cross. A Sermon of Repentance is best seen in our tears and reformation. To be only hearers of the word, is to put a cheat upon our souls, Jam. 1. 22. and make the Minister not the Physician, but the Mountebank. Practice is the shining lamp of the Sanctuary, Exod. 27. 20. It was observed among the Jews, that they were exact in turning over the leaves of the Bible, and none more incurious to understand the mind of the Holy Ghost in those sacred pages, or to conform themselves to the commands of those divine Oracles, they were like some heedless persons who gaze upon a tree, but never turn up the leaves to see what fruit is underneath, that they might feed upon it for support and satisfaction: Such Jewish spirits too too many we have among us, who like oscitant and negligent workmen, who have their tools about them, and set upon no piece for the exercise of their Art. But it is rare and worthy when we hear things to be done, and do things to be heard. That knowledge is best which is practical, when the understanding impresses the will, as the seal doth the wax, and so leaves characters of worth and holiness. Our Savior calls them blessed who hear the word and keep it, Luke 11. 28. The hearers life is the Preachers best commendation. The true use of Ordinances is not only to increase our knowledge, but to regulate our practice. The Law is a rule as well as a lamp. A sinful life will unravell all our profession, and expose that puppet dressed up to scorn and derision. Seneca observed of the Philosophers, That when they grew more learned, they grew less moral. This is more venial in a Heathen Philosopher, then in a professing Christian. We must desire the sincere milk of the word, that we may grow thereby, 1 Pet. 2. 2. Indeed the word must not only be the light of our minds, but the treasure of our hearts, which treasure must be spent upon works of piety and holiness. The Lord Jesus makes it an infallible Character of our love to him, if we keep his Commandments, John 14. 15.
First, Christ doth not say, if ye hear, but if ye do my Commandments; hearing is only a step towards Religion, a good wish for heaven; the Scribes and Pharisees heard Christ, who afterwards brought him to the Cross. It is a sharp speech of the holy Apostle, 1 Joh. 2. 4. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his Commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
Secondly, Christ doth not say, if you love me, dispute subtly of my Commandments. Deeds, not disputes, evidence our love to Christ; the regular acts of our lives, not the ingenious canvasings of the Schools, it is not reasoning out of God's word, but walking after that holy word, speaketh us the Disciples of the Lord Jesus.
Thirdly, Nor doth Christ say, If ye love me, prescribe my Commandments to others, read them lectures of sanctity, no, but live them yourselves. Personal holiness is of absolute necessity to every Christian. It is not our prescription, but our obedience; not what we dictate to others, but what we act ourselves, shows our interest in, and our union to Christ.
Fourthly, Nor doth Christ say, keep the Statutes and the Commandments of your predecessors, no, but keep my Commandments; it is not a plausihle custom, but an undefiled conscience speaks the Christian. This the Lord pleads with Israel of old, Ezek. 20. 18, 19. But I said unto their Children in the wilderness, walk ye not in the statutes of your Fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their Idols; I am the Lord your God, walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them. The Pharisees darling, was the tradition of their Fathers, and they were the Master-pieces of Hypocrisy.
Fifthly, Nor doth Christ say, if ye love me, keep and observe what seems right to you, no, but keep my Commandments, though severity be written upon their very forehead, though it be to the carrying of my Cross, to the denial of yourselves, to the laying down of your lives for my sake; and keep all my Commandments, not what are pleasing to your flesh, but what are enjoined by my word. So then, if we have any love to Christ, holy practice must be the testimonial of it. Indeed many Christians are like Children in the Rickets, they have big heads, but weak joints, they are all for notions, and head-light, curious knowledge, and airy speculations, but they wave practical truths, and that wisdom which entereth upon the heart, Prov. 2. 10. This undigested knowledge puts out the fire of zeal; as if the waters of the Sanctuary should put out the fire of the Sanctuary, and men could not at the same time be knowing and holy. How ardently then should we pray to the Father, that Ordinances may so influence our lives, that our conversation may bear witness how much we love the Lord Jesus. And thus much for the second duty to be performed on the morning of the Sabbath, before we join with the assembly of God's people, (viz.) Prayer.
[unspec 3] A third duty incumbent upon us, before we join with the Congregation, is, taking pains with our own hearts, and this properly is Closet work, which we may manage to very good purpose in these four particulars.
[unspec 1] We must endeavor to empty our hearts:
First, To throw out all the trash, to cast out all vain thoughts, and worldly desires. Ponds and Moates are cleansed to keep them wholesome: Foolish and vain imaginations will fly-blow all our duties; and therefore we must let down the Portcullis of our hearts to keep in stragglers, and wanderers, that they may not interrupt us in our holy worship. These Caterpillars will blast and spoil the fruit of holy Ordinances; and for the achieving of this necessary work,
First, Let us beg of Christ, that he would whip these buyers and sellers out of the Temple of our souls. The spirit of God can sweep away these Locusts, and supply us with more noble and heavenly cogitations, he can drop divine meditations into our hearts, and turn the dross of flatulent thoughts, into the gold of spiritual and seraphicall; He is called a holy spirit, not only from those gracious impressions he stamps upon the heart, but likewise from those divine infusions he instills into the head; and so the whole man is his workman-ship in Jesus Christ.
Secondly, We may likewise lash and correct these vain thoughts; which flit up and down in our minds, by setting before our hearts the future judgment, when thoughts shall be canvased, as well as words and actions; sinful thoughts at any time are accountable, but those which defile the Sabbath are of a double die, and are written in red Letters. The consideration of a judgment day, will turn Hagar's and Ishmael's out of door, carnal and foolish imaginations. Indeed we are apt with Lots Wife to look backward towards the worldly pleasures of Sodom, towards the vanities of the world, which hath too much of our heart even on the holy Sabbath of God; but pondering on our future account, we shall keep our faces steady towards Zion.
Thirdly, We must consider how much this trash of the heart, foolish and vain thoughts will distract us in duty; they are like the ringing of Bells in Sermon time, which drown the