The Practical Sabbatarian

CHAP. XXVII. How we must demean ourselves in the Public Assembly, on the Holy Sabbath.

HAving thus performed our Morning Exercises in private, how cheerfully should we repair to the Public Assemblies, and draw nigh to the public Ordinances on this acceptable day of grace and salvation, when Christ sits in state, scattering treasures of grace among hungry and thirsty souls, who are poor in spirit, and wait for spiritual Alms? David admired the amiableness of God's Tabernacles, Psal. 84. 1. and he longed for the Courts of God, rejoicing, when they said to him, Let us go to the house of the Lord, Psal. 42. 4. And the Prophet Isaiah speaking of Gospel times, seems to foretell the disposition of Gospel Saints, Many people shall go, and say, Come let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths, Isa. 2. 2, 3. And the Apostle adviseth us, by no means to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, Heb. 10. 25. whom he brands with reproof and reproach. Public Ordinances they are our spiritual Exchange, our holy Mart, our heavenly Fairs, where we buy up, and fit ourselves with all heavenly Commodities; In these seasons we store ourselves with grace, knowledge and comforts, which may abundantly serve us till the revolution of another Sabbath. It was once the sad complaint of the Church, That the ways of Zion did mourn, because none came to her Assemblies, Lam. 1. 4. The want of public Ordinances might put a Nation in sack-clothe, they being the badge of the Church, and the glory of the Kingdom. Indeed holy duties in private they are of great use, and have their blessing: But public Ordinances are the chief work of the Sabbath. It is worthy our observation, that the Sabbath and public service are by God himself both joined together: Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, saith God, and reverence my Sanctuary, Luke 19. 30. The Sabbath and the Sanctuary are coupled, as being twins of happiness. Every thing is beautiful in its Season. Private duties are beautiful, and are in season every day: But public Ordinances are never so lovely and beautiful, never so much in their full sea, as upon God's holy day; Then they are in season, as the harvest in the year, as Courts of Judicature in the Term, as a shining constellation in a dark night. David's resolution was to praise God in the great Congregation, Psal. 29. 9. The Lord esteems it his glory, to have many beggars thronging at the beautiful gate of his Temple for spiritual gifts and charity; how loud, nay, how lovely is the noise of many golden Trumpets, what an echo do they make? How pleasant is it, when the holy Convocation meet for holy worship, like the pleasant flocks upon the mountain of holiness. Many skillful musicians playing together, elevate and sweeten the harmony. The Congregation meeting together, do much resemble the Celestial Choir above, and seem to imitate that Troop and Host of Angels which proclaimed Christ's Nativity to the world, Luke 2. 13. In public, God receives the highest praises, and there he bestows the greatest blessings, Psal. 65. 4. The promise runs, God will create upon her Assemblies a cloud, Isa. 4. 5. which Cloud was the assured testimony of the Divine presence, which presence includes and involves all varieties of good. Wine flows more plentifully from a Vintage then a Vessel; in public Ordinances God gives us the plenty of a Vintage. In God's Courts we shall taste of his goodness, not only of his good will and favor, but of his good things; we shall be refreshed with pardoning grace, the joys of peace, the smiles of love, and be captivated with the beauty of holiness, Psal. 96. 6. If you will know where believers see their best sights, where • hey hear the most ravishing sounds, where they make the most delightful meals, they will tell you, in the Assemblies of God's people, Psal. 68. 24. There they have been satisfied with marrow and fatness. Indeed when God denies public Ordinances, he himself will be a little sanctuary to his Chosen, Ezek. 11. 16. But where he affords them, he expects they should be attended on. Christ himself went into the places of public resort. It is signally to be observed, that in every Festival of the Jews, there was to be an holy Convocation, a joint meeting of God's people, to evidence how pleasing it is to God, for his Doves to flock to the windows; the companies of his dear ones being the work-houses of his grace, the store-houses of his blessings, and the true Goshens where light and plenty dwells. So in the Feast of the Passover, Exod. 12. 16. a Convocation was to begin and shut up that feast, it was both to open and to end it, to be the Alpha and the Omega of that solemnity. So in the feast of the Sabbath, Lev. 23. 3. it was to be a day of rest; but this rest was given for holy meetings, for holy addresses, for holy worship. the Tabernacle and the Temple in the times of the Law, and the Synagogues in latter times were open, and frequented on the Sabbath, Mat. 1. 21. Mark 6. 2. when private affairs were laid aside, and public worship was to be in ure. And so in the feast of Pentecost, or first fruits, Lev. 23. 21. The Israelites were not to offer up these first fruits, the tribute their praise and thanksgiving, without burnt offerings, Lev. 23. 18. without sin offerings and peace offerings, verse. 19. nor without holy worship, verse. 20. nor yet without a holy meeting and convocation, verse. 21. Every solemn feast must be accompanied with a solemn meeting▪ the worship itself not being grateful without the worshipers. And thus it was in the feast of Trumpets, Lev. 23. 24. In the day of Atonement, Lev. 23. 27. And so in the feast of Tabernacles or Booths, Lev. 23. 34, 35, 36. There was a holy convocation at the beginning and close of that solemnity. And it is remarkable, that what is called a holy convocation, Lev. 23. 35. 36. is called a Sabbath, Lev. 23. 39. to intimate to us, that a Sabbath is not a Sabbath without the Assemblies of God's people. Thus pleasing are congregated Saints in holy worship, where God makes all his festivals of grace and love.

Now for our grateful and acceptable deportment in public Ordinances, we must study;

1. To be strict in our behaviours.

2. Spiritual in our duties.

3. Active in our graces. We will take them, and canvas them all in their order; for indeed the duties of this holy day require extraordinary diligence, they have a double die of holiness upon them, they are double gilt; God's eye is very much upon our behavior in his house. Therefore in the Tabernacle, the place of public worship it was commanded, Exod. 25. 37. Thou shalt make seven Lamps, and they shall light the Lamps that they may give light, to teach us, that nothing there escapes his fight, for in his house it is always light. In the Sanctuary thou canst not sin in secret, there are seven Lamps to discover thy miscarriages.

[unspec 1] We must study a beseeming behavior in the public Ordinances, and this is twofold;

1. External of the body. We must compose our outward man to a suitable behavior, when we approach to God in public Ordinances: Considering

1. God is the Lord of our bodies, as well as our souls, and therefore the deportment of the body must be as critical.

2. The Apostle adviseth us, Rom. 12. 1. To offer up our bodies a reasonable sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. Especially, this oblation must be made in public worship; the Temple we know, was the usual place for sacrifice. Let it be added:

3. The body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. 6. 19. as well as the heart is the lodging of Christ, Eph. 3. 17. David speaks much of the comportment of the body in holy services. The eye must look up, Psal. 123. 4. The hands must be lift up, Psal. 63. 4. The mouth must be filled with praises, Psal. 63. 5. The ear must bow, and the knee must bend, Psal. 95. 6. The body is one of the two mites we indigent worshipers can offer to God.

But for the better unfolding of this particular, (viz.) How we must comport our bodies in public worship; there is something to be acted, and something to be avoided:

[unspec 1] First, Something the outward man must Act.

[unspec 2] 1. We must lift up our hands in prayer; this the Psalmist enjoin us, a a duty, Psal. 134. 2. and proposes his own example, Psal. 119. 48. What speaks more humility in prayer, then to lift up the hands to receive the Alms? Nor doth it show less then our dependence upon God, when by the lifting up of our hands, we seem to point at our benefactor; The Prophet Jeremiah, 2 Lam. 19. joins the pouring out of the heart, and the lifting up of the hands together. Moreover it pretends to a holy violence, when we lift up our hands to wrestle with God, and to storm heaven. Christ lifted up his hands in benediction, and we must do the same in supplication.

Secondly, We must compose our countenances to holy Reverence. The Pharisees indeed disfigured their faces, Mat. 6. 16. But their hypocrisy must not discourage our piety: nothing doth more beautify a serious worshipper then a becoming gravity: Did we consider the infiniteness of that Majesty we are to deal withal, the brightness of his eye, the purity of his nature, the strength of his hand, the severity of his judgments, and likewise weigh the account we must give for Gospel opportunities, this would put a holy astonishment upon our faces, and cover them with a reverential dread; we know the offering up of strange fire but once, cost two Priests their lives. God loves a trembling at his word, Isa. 66. 2. Slight carriages in worship more become a wanton Jupiter, then an awful Jehovah, who is a consuming fire.

[unspec 3] Thirdly, We must bend the ear to the severest attention. How often doth our Savior call for a hearing ear; this was the Epiphonema, and conclusion of every Sermon to his Auditors, Mat. 11. 15. Mark 4. 9. Luke 8. 8. Luke 14. 35. And this was the winding up of every Epistle to the Churches, Rev. 2. 7, 11, 17, 29. Rev. 3. 6. 13, 22. It is said of Christ's Auditors that they did hang upon his mouth in hearing him, Luke 19. 48. They did sit upon his lips, that no word might escape them, but they might arrest it for soul advantage. The ear is the proper door to the heart; this is the postern to let in truth; study then to make it a door to salvation by a serious and diligent attention. Divine truths, like those Angels who came to Lot, must not be shut out, but entertained, and the ear is the portal by which they must enter. Attention, though it be not an only, yet it is a necessary duty; the ear lies in the way to the soul, as the light shines not into the house, but by the window. Faith, saith the Apostle, Rom. 10. 17. comes by hearing, and justification cometh by faith, Rom. 5. 1. So that attention in holy Ordinances lays the first stone in the structure of glory. He who is an attentive and serious hearer lays a good foundation, a foundation of Jasper to found the New Jerusalem upon. The ear is the fort which the Minister is to assault, but the heart is the strong hold which the spirit is to take, but if we are not attentive, and resist the first on-set, that of the Minister, we shall lay discouragements before the second, that of the spirit, we shall grieve the spirit of the Lord, Eph. 4. 30. But let not our careless attention obstruct and hinder the spirits saving operation: And let us not loose those blessed truths by neglectful hearing, which Christ hath bought by his painful bleeding. Are the glad tidings of the Gospel so slight a message? Are divine truths so mean a Doctrine? Are Sermons of faith and godliness such low discourses, that we will not be attentive in the hearing of them? Surely this is below the Religion of the Jews, who diligently heard Christ in the Temple, though afterwards they brought him to the Cross. It was the great complaint of God, that the people would not hear him, Isa. 28. 12. L •• us then be exact and very diligent in our outward attention, when we come to the public Ordinances, always remembering, that the outward Court brings to the inner Court, and that leads to the Holy of Holies.

But as we must watch our outward behavior in public worship to know what we are to act, so likewise to understand what we are to avoid.

CHAP. XXVIII. Sleeping in Ordinances, is a great and daring provocation.

[unspec 1] IN public Ordinances we must avoid all sleep and slothfulness; this surely is a great and general distemper broken in upon us, much to be lamented, and now more fully to be discovered. This was the brand of the foolish Virgins, they were asleep as the Bride-groom came, and so their happiness was a dream. We dare not sleep when a King speaks to us, and yet we will adventure it when a God speaks to us. It is very uncouth and inconsistent, that we should be shutting our eyes, when we should be opening our hearts; that our bodies should sleep, when our souls should awake, that the street door should be shut, when the closet door should be open, (viz.) in public Ordinances, and in the holy worship of the Almighty. Surely those who commit this sin, did never really examine it; they adventure upon the practice of it, because they never dived into the bottom of it: But let such know, that sleeping in Ordinances, is every way offensive.

[unspec 1] It is offensive to the eye of God. When we are in Ordinances we are more especially under the eye of God; though he is excluded nowhere, yet his presence is more peculiarly in the assemblies of his Saints. He more particularly walks in the midst of his Candlesticks. Now there are several attributes in God which bespeak our greatest attention and devotion in holy Ordinances.

First, His excellent and incomprehensible greatness. If we had any dread or awe of an infinite Majesty upon us, we should throw away all sleep and drowsiness when we come before him in holy worship: Let us contemplate on the royalty of his Throne, of the brightness of his Majesty, and this would awaken us to fear and astonishment. Shall a besotted worm stupefy himself by sleep, when he is under the full view and immediate eye of the Almighty? Surely not only his senses but his reason is asleep, and his whole man is in a benumbed Lethargy. Cannot infiniteness startle us? And the dread of the Almighty pull us out of our dream? One sparkling of his eye could confound us; if he should command a ray of the Sun, it would fire us out of our sloth and scorch us into nothing, or that which is worse then nothing.

Secondly, His omnisciency. We sleep, but God doth not slumber, he fully seeth our desperate carelessness and willful drowsiness in holy Ordinances. There is no dropping asleep in a crowd, or taking a nap in some obscure place can evade the full view of God's eye. He takes notice of the frame of our hearts, much more of the posture of our bodies. When thou sleepest in the time of worship there is no curtain before thee, nothing to abate the view of God, or darken his eye. God sees all thy snoring indulgence, which is excessively offensive to him.

Thirdly, His holiness. God is exceedingly displeased with our unbecoming behaviours in holy worship, his purity is much provoked by our sinful Lethargy. Sleeping in Ordinances, it is a sin, nay a dangerous sin, nay, it is a crying sin, and therefore highly provoking to divine holiness. Our Savior, Rev. 3. 1. speaks of some who seemed to be alive, and yet were dead. And such are sleepy hearers, their Pew is their grave, their clothes their winding-sheet, and their present sleep their temporary death. Indeed sleeping in Ordinances is a sin against nature itself. The Sun will not stop in its course in attending on the world, but the foolish sleeper stops in his attendance on the word; and yet the Sun receives no reward, but the Christian looks for one, and though he hath snorted away a Sermon, he presumes he hath discharged a duty, and so is in his road to life eternal.

Fourthly, His justice, which is easily awakened by his holiness, a just God will not endure a drowsy hearer. The young man who slept at Paul's Sermon fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead: In mercy God presents the Gospel to our attention, and in justice he will punish our want of attention; God indeed took away a rib from Adam when he was asleep, Gen. 2. 21. But he will not take away a lust from any of the Sons of Adam while they are asleep in the Paradise of Ordinances. A Lamb will not sleep in the paw of a Lion, in the reach of an enraged Panther; how much less should fond and formal sinners sleep in the presence, in the most peculiar presence of him who is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Rev. 5. 5. who can tear our souls like a Lion, Psal. 7. 2. nay, tear us in pieces, and there is none to deliver, Psal. 50. 22. and break us in pieces as a potters vessel, Jer. 19. 11. to be made whole no more.

[unspec 2] Sleeping in Ordinances is distasteful to the view of Angels; Those holy spirits frequent the assemblies of the Saints, 1 Cor. 11. 10. And they are witnesses of our carriage and deportment, of our obedience and disobedience, as Theophylact, Anselm, Chysostom, and others aver; and how much disgust must it cast on those holy and most Seraphic beings, those blessed Courtiers of heaven, whose concerns are so much wrapped up in the honor of God, to see a stupefied formalist with his senses chained up in unseasonable sleep, when the Eye, Heart, Mind, and all should be attentive to grasp after divine truth in the public dispensations of it, and when the inward and the outward man like wind and tide both should meet, to carry away and treasure up the discoveries of God's word and counsel to him? The Angels see our foolish glances, wanton looks, undecent postures, they have a strict eye upon us in Ordinances; O then let us not damp these glorious spirits by our uncomely and unworthy drowsiness.

[unspec 3] This sinful sleepiness is disquieting to the assembly of the Saints with whom we do associate: Do we know what hearts are saddened, what spirits are grieved, what passions are raised by our sleepy carriage, and our drowsy behavior? Our Savior charges us not to offend one single Saint, much less an assembly of God's people when we are met together in divine worship. When we see one sleeping, and hear another talking, and observe another rolling his eyes from one object to another, is not this to turn the Temple into a Babel, and the order of the Church into confusion, and to attempt to build God's house a new with axes and hammers? A sleepy hearer is a spot in our Feasts, like a seared bough in a green tree, a disturbance and grief to the assembly, like a broken string in a lute which jars the Music.

[unspec 4] This stupid drowsiness is very prejudicial to the work we are about, when we come to Ordinances we are employed in the work of heaven.

[unspec 1] This is opus dei, God's work, a holy and sacred work. In Ordinances we deal with God, we pay our tribute to God, we have communion with God, we drive a great trade with God, and shall we sleep in God's work? Basil observes, there are three things requisite for the carrying on God's work.

First, That the mind be wholly set upon it, and taken up in it.

Secondly, That there be a restless desire of doing well.

Thirdly, That there be diligence and unweariedness in the work. Now then a sacred work is no sleepy work. Our enjoyment of God in Ordinances is a day of salvation, 2 Cor. 6. 2. It is no night to sleep in. It is against reason to sleep with the Sun shining in our faces. In Gospel Ordinances the Sun of righteousness shines in the face of the soul, it doth shed its warming and its winning beams upon us. The Gospel is called bright, John 3. 19. which is to rouse us, not to rock us asleep. It was once a sharp expostulation of our Savior. What could ye not watch with me one hour? The same query may be put to every sleepy hearer.

2. In Ordinances, the work we are employed in, is, opus animae, the souls work. Will the prisoner fall asleep when he is begging his pardon? What are we doing in prayer, but suing out our pardons, and making up our peace with our offended God? The Heir will not fall asleep, while he is hearing the Will read, in which he is highly concerned; the discoveries of the Gospel are the Fathers will concerning his Children, and when we meet in Ordinances, we are hearing this will, and is that a time of sleep and drowsiness? In Ordinances, the case of our souls is agitated, heaven and eternity are proposed, life and death are set before us, the silver trumpet of the Gospel sounds, and is that a time of sloth and oscitancy? Ordinances are the way to life, the means of grace, not only the radical moisture to preserve spiritual life, but the very first means to beget it, and shall we sleep in Ordinances? When the wind blows right, shall the mariner betake himself to his bed, or to his tackle, to drown himself in sloth, or to hoise sail, and trace the floating waves? Every opportunity of grace is a good wind for heaven; and shall we sleep away that seasonable and precious gale? How then shall we finish our voyage to eternity? We hear Proclamations with great attention: Every Sermon is Christ's Proclamation, to proclaim pardon to all penitent sinners, who will come in, and lay down the weapons of sin and lust, and submit themselves to the Scepter and Obedience of Jesus Christ; and shall we sleep in hearing this royal Proclamation? It is very observable, what awakening, and heart-penetrating expressions the Prisoner uses at the bar, and there is nothing unobserved by him, but with much greediness and attention he hearkens to the Evidence of the Witnesses, to the Verdict of the Jury, to the Sentence of the Judge, and no wonder, it is for his life. Now the word we hear, it is that which shall judge us at the great day, John 12. 48. By it, our eternal estate shall be disposed, either to life or death; that blessed word shall cast or crown us; and shall we sleep away this word? Shall it not then condemn us for mutes, and so to be pressed to eternal death? Our life, our peace, our souls are all concerned in the entertainment of this word, and we sleep and dream it away; surely greater frenzy cannot befall the Children of men.

[unspec 5] Sleeping in Ordinances is a great affront to the richest privilege we enjoy on this side heaven. The time of worship is the souls Term time, a few choice minutes to gain glory in; and shall we sleep away these golden filings of time, these sweet opportunities of the soul, when Christ is wooing us, to court us to a Crown? Did we ever understand the true value of Ordinances?

1. Ordinances, they are the purchases, and price of Christ's blood; that we have a Gospel to hear, divine truth to entertain, this is the Revenue of Christ's death. The Apostle tells us, Christ brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel, 2 Tim. 1. 10. Christ by dying brought this life, Christ by descending into the dark grave brought this immortality to light: And the Gospel is the full declaration of these glorious achievements. And Christ by his blood hath opened a new and living way for prayer, to the throne of grace, Heb. 10. 20. And shall a privilege purchased with blood be slept away? We will not throw away Diamonds fetched from far with care and hazard, nor cast away Rings left us as tokens of love by endeared friends; why should we sleep away opportunities, not purchased with treasure, but tears, not with wealth but blood, nay, the best blood which ever ran in the veins of human nature?

2. Ordinances are the Benjamins mess which are given to few in the world; some corners only of the earth are guilded, and guided by this light: Hath God indulged us with these distinguishing opportunities, and must they pass away from us in a dream? This very ingratitude is not so much a trespass, as a prodigy. Shall Christ select us out to feast with him in his hanqueting house, as once the King selected Haman to feast with him with the Queen; and shall we sleep at the table, when we should feast upon Gospel dainties, shall we drowsily throw away those seasons of love, nay, the best love, which few in the world are honored with?

3. In Ordinances we have the offers of the sweetest grace. Prayer hath the key of the treasury door, John 14. 14. where our comforts are banked up. In hearing we have the gracious offers of Christ, and in him of life and happiness; and shall all these offers, these paramount tenders of love be slept away? Shall we shut our eyes, shut our hands, shut our souls against all these rich revenues freely proffered in Gospel dispensations? Beasts by natures instinct will not sleep at the provender, nor at their manger.

4. Ordinances they are precious, but transcient privileges. As we sometimes pass upon the water, and view a stately structure, but we quickly lose the sight of it, our prospect is upon the speed; so yet a little while, and we shall pray no more, hear no more, enjoy communion with God no more, and shall we sleep away these golden, yet gliding seasons? Shall we drousilie pass away those streams of Gospel love, which are always running, and being passed return no more? Shall we be as rocks before the music of the word, when the instruments will soon be laid aside? Shall we be as persons in a swoun, before the calls of the word, when those invitations will not last, but our refusal proves our ruin? The sleepy hearer might have heard that Sermon, which happily might have brought him home to the arms of Christ; but now happily the offers of peace and reconciliation may be hid from his eyes. Before his eyes were shut, he was asleep, But now the day is shut in, and he may, as our Savior speaks, Mark 14. 41. sleep on now, the day will shine no more, but he shall be involved in utter darkness. There are three things very much provoke the Lord:

1. When we do not bring faith to an Ordinance. Faith is the Benjamin, which we must bring with us, or never expect to see the face of God in Ordinances.

2. When we bring not the heart to an Ordinance, but our thoughts are wandering, and eccentrical.

3. When we bring not our senses to an Ordinance, but sleep hath chained them up, and restrained them from their use and exercise; Surely God will be much inflamed, he cannot have the outward man at an Ordinance, a supple knee, a weeping eye, an attentive ear; now as unbelief seizeth upon the faculties of the soul, and pinnions them up, that they will not embrace the word, so sleep surprizes the senses, and fetters them, that they have no liberty to entertain the offers of the word; And it is an equal provocation, to shut the eye at, or turn the back upon the blessed Gospel.

[unspec 6] Sleeping in Ordinances is not only the imprisoning of the senses, but the present suspension of our graces. Sleep shackles body and soul too. The drowsy hearer doth not only stop his ear, but stifle his grace too. We are to bring divers graces to the Ordinances with us.

1. Faith. The word is to be mixed with faith, Heb. 4. 2. Prayer must be the prayer of faith, Jam. 5. 15. The Sacrament is only the pageant of an Ordinance, if faith be absent.

2. We must come with knowledge. These blessed institutions, they are the way to salvation, but we must have an eye to see the way.

3. We must come with self-denial, we must deny sinful self, and moral self, to hear what God speaks in an Ordinance, we must take down self to entertain Jesus Christ.

4. We must come with zeal. Every sacrifice in the Law was offered up with fire; The Sun hath its heat, as well as its light. We must be fervent in spirit serving the Lord, Rom. 12. 11. As the boiling pot is always sending up its bubles, and its fumes, as the learned man most elegantly. There must be an activity and liveliness in all holy worship; we must be spiritual, and spirited, when we serve that God who is a spirit. Now sleep and drowsiness puts out the fire of our graces, and suspends their actings, so that there is neither smoke, heat or glowing. Sleeping in Ordinances it is a multiplied sin, it robs God of his time, it keeps grace from the breast, it is the Pent-house that keeps the shower from the heart, that Doctrine cannot distill as the dew, nor speech drop as the rain, Deut. 32. 2. It shuts the eye of the understanding, that for the present it cannot discern the glorious things of God.

[unspec 7] Sleeping in Ordinances, it pours contempt on the holy name of God. We do not use to sleep, if we are upon our own work, if it be but the hearing of a tale, or the giving of a visit, or the getting of a penny; In our sales, bargains, merchandizings we are wakeful and vigilant enough; then the eye is open, the mind is intent, and the tongue talkative, all the faculties of the soul are summoned to attendance; we will not sleep in the Change, if it be only to hear a piece of news; in our fruitless discoursing, worldly bargaining, courtly visiting, luxurious banqueting, though we sit on the softest Couch, and talk of nothing but novelties and vanities, pride and fashions, and our language is nothing but a vain parenthesis, yet all this while no sleep seizeth upon our employed senses; but when we come to transact our soul affairs, when the unsearchable riches of Christ, Eph. 3. 8. are telling out, those Summs which will enrich the soul to eternity, when we have opportunities for spiritual gain, to advantage our inward man, to grow rich in the jewels of grace and holiness; then Nature lets down her Port-cullis, as if it was a midnight vacation, and we fall asleep, as if we were wholly unconcerned in those spiritual transactions. What a dunghill of vanity is the corrupt nature of man? The Husbandman will not sleep with the plow in his hand, nor the Pilot in the steerage of his ship; the Shop-keeper falls not asleep in the vending of his wares, nay, the Guest will not sleep in the eating of his Viands, but the careless Christian will sleep when Christ comes to give him a visit in holy Ordinances, and he is in the divine presence, hearing something which concerns his eternity. But as the Apostle angrily expostulates with the Corinthians, Have ye not houses to drink in? 1 Cor. 11. 22. So may I say, have ye not houses to sleep in, and beds to rest on? Must God's Ordinances be undervalued and disesteemed by your shameful sloth and drowsiness? And when the Minister is opening the transcripts of God's heart in Gospel dispensations, must all be buried in silence, and rejected by a dronish and slothful contempt? Ah! how prodigal is stupefied man of his soul, which shall live as long as God himself?

[unspec 8] Sleeping in Ordinances is a most dangerous and desperate adventure: Whilst thou sleepest away a Sermon, happily that very truth was delivered which might have converted thy soul, thou knowest not when that plaster will be spread which shall cure the wound of sin. The means of Grace are called a day of Salvation; and there is a particular hour in that day for thy Conversion, it may be thou sleepest away that very hour. Amber-greece is not cast on the shore every day, though sometimes that precious thing is cast on the land. Mariners have a wind, which if they neglect, they may hazard, if not lose their Voyage. Indeed conversion is a kind of wonder, as blazing stars, which are seen once in an age; and wilt thou sleep in Ordinances, when happily this wonder is to be wrought? Wilt thou for the sloth of an hour venture the pains of eternity? If Zacchaeus had not climbed up into the Sicamore-tree, in that very season, to see Christ, possibly salvation had never come to his house; If thou belongest to the election of Grace, thou hast thy hour, thy Sermon, this opportunity for thy turning to God. The Man-child lies long in the womb, but it is brought forth in a moment: How should we take heed that we do not sleep away that moment, when our salvation should be brought to the birth! Happily there is some way of wickedness thou walkest securely in, some necessary duty thou livest in the neglect of, some sore temptation thou groanest under and grapplest with; Now if thou art asleep, when these things are pathetically and powerfully spoken to, thou mayest live and die in the practice of that sin, thou mayest fall and sink under the power of that temptation; and so eternity may be spent in bewailing one hours folly.

Now for the avoidance of this God-provoking sin.

1. The most plausible excuse, which gives the fairest color to it, to varnish it over, shall be examined.

2. Some ponderous considerations shall be laid down to be weighed in the balance.

3. Some seasonable Directions shall be suggested to be followed and pursued.

The great excuse which seems to cloak and disguise this sin, is this; some guilty of this sin usually plead, It is true, we sometimes forget ourselves or an Ordinance, and fall asleep, but this is our natural weakness, not our moral wickedness; our grief it is, but not our guilt; we combat with it, but we cannot conquer it; it is our infelicity, and our bemoaned misery; our piece of clay is heavy and will be seeking rest, and sometimes in Ordinances, and we must cast ourselves upon our Savior's indulgent Interpretation, The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

To this specious pretence and usual plea, it is answered; Possibly natural weakness may be the true cause of sloth and sleepiness in Ordinances, not so much the remissnesse of our minds, as the indisposition of our bodies: the pile of dust our souls are cloystred in, drops into our eyes, and we are rockt asleep. And it may likewise be remembered, that the senses are attendants on the body, and Lacquies to the commands of it; and no wonder if the eyes be locked up when the body will be indulged, or the indisposition of it demands a truce or cessation.

But yet there are many things which conscience can only answer in this Case.

[unspec 1] Is our drowsiness in Ordinances customary, or casual, accidental, or habitual? It is very true, the Saints themselves are obnoxious to accidental falls and follies: the Sun is subject to ecclipses, but very rarely; the best and most stately Ship may run a ground: and in this particular a Believer may fail; he may shut his eyes when he should act his grace at an Ordinance. The Disciples slept when Christ was praying at a little distance. The wise Virgins slept as well as the foolish, Math. 25. 5. A real Saint may drop asleep in a Pew, or in a Seat, as well as Jonah in the Ship, or Christ in a Bark. A believers eyes may be arrested with sloth, when his ear should be attending its office; But this is casual.

[unspec 2] Is this unseasonable drowsiness, an inevitable pressure, or is it caused by our own miscarriage, by indulging our sensual appetite, by overmuch vigilancy in worldly affairs, or by the intemperate use of Creature-comforts? If so, never impute it to natural weakness. This is all one, as if by intemperance one should contract the Palsy, and say, the Disease is the consequence of his Constitution. As Grace is the Mother, so abstinence is the Nurse of watchfulness; but if we drown our sense in an undue over-plus, it is no wonder if we be in a dead sleep at Ordinances. Let us impartially examine the cause of our drowsiness.

[unspec 3] Have we used all proper remedies against this sinful and unseasonable drowsiness? Have we prayed, wept, mourned and struggled against it? Have we kneeled in the Closet, cried in the Chamber beforehand, that this destructive sloth might not seize upon us? No wonder if Sampson sleep if he lie in a Delilah's lap. It is a good saying of Tertullian, Let us not flatter ourselves, saith he, but let the flesh serve the spirit, the weaker serve the stronger, the more contemptible obey the more honorable, that the weaker may receive strength from the stronger. The wound is not cured without a Plaister: Have we used methods of Grace for the cure of this sleepy Lethargy? If not, our sleep in Ordinances is our sin, our provocation, and no way our infirmity, and let us not charge constitution, but conscience. No wonder if the Disease grow upon us, if we neither use Physic, nor Physician.

[unspec 4] Do they suppose, who practice this, they call the infirmity of the flesh, that they could sleep in the midst of their secular affairs? and shall we be more vigilant for earth than Heaven? for a poor piece of clay, than for a piece of eternity? our immortal, our never dying souls? Shall the meanest parenthesis of our lives keep us waking, and not the great importances of our better part? This in the close will be found to be our folly, and no way our excuse.

[unspec 5] Did we ever weigh the value and worth of an Ordinance? Is it not a golden opportunity, a fresh tide of mercy? and shall we lose our tide for a little unseasonable sloth? In Ordinances Christ treats with us about our everlasting concernments; and is that a time for the folding of our hands to sleep? Must we be consulting our ease when we should be prosecuting our salvation? It was David's resolution, He would follow hard after God, Psalm 63. 8. What a contradiction to this holy man is a sleepy Hearer, one who buries himself alive at an Ordinance. The Scriptures assure us, we must storm heaven and take it by force, Math. 11. 12. And we must enter in at the straight gate by striving, Matth. 13. 24. Nay, we must make our way to Heaven by fighting the good fight of Faitb, 1 Tim. 6. 12. And all these are actions most inconsistent with sleep and slothfulness.

[unspec 6] It is too probable a sign we taste little sweetness in holy Ordinances, and that Gospel-dispensations never shed their perfumes upon our souls, when we can wish them away with a nod or a dream. Rich Banquets will scarce meet with sleepy guests. Sweet Musiques will court and captivate our attention: And had we the taste, either of a Job, Job 23. 12. Or of a David, Psalm 19. 10. we should keep both eye and heart open in divine Ordinances. Were Ordinances so pleasant or parturient to us, as either to delight our souls, or awaken our consciences, we should not throw them away at so cheap a rate, as the gratifying of the flesh with a little stupefying sleep. Surely the design of sleep was to be the Nurse of Nature, and not the enemy of Grace, to support the body, and not to hazard the soul. Some learned men have called sleep the kinsman of Death; O let it not be the Parent of our eternal Death; It is a fatal change, when sleep is metamorphosed into sin.

And thus much for the washing away of the paint of that excuse which pretends weakness and indisposition of body; It is much to be feared the hand of Joab is in all this, that neglect and carelessness close our eyes, when we sleep away the precious Ordinances and opportunities of Grace.

But now succeed some ponderous considerations to be weighed in the balance, and seriously to be digested, before we give ourselves the sinful latitude to sleep in Ordinances. Indeed many there are who sin away their souls, and how many are there who sleep away their souls? Before they come to Ordinances they sleep in sin, and when they come to Ordinances they sin in sleep. Sleep truly in the bed is the nurse of Nature, but sleep in the Sanctuary is the nurse of vanity, and breeds the soul up in Ignorance and Atheism. It is very strange, that when our grace should be full of activity, our senses should be chained with stupidity. When Jonah slept, the storm came. Thou sleepest at a blessed soulawakening Ordinance, a storm of wrath may speedily fall upon thee, as the Leprosy on a sudden rose in Uzziahs forehead. But let us deliberatively weigh in our thoughts,

[unspec 1] Wicken men do not sleep when they are about Satan's work, and while they are undoing their own souls. If Judas have a plot in hand, out of doors he will, though in the night to bring his cursed design to pass, John 13. 30. Nay, the proud, wanton, envious eye in the Congregation, will not fall asleep, but will pry into every corner, observe every fashion, take notice of every beauty, Satan's work shall not be done sleepily; and shall the work of God, of Christ, of Heaven, of the Soul, be done with drowsiness and stupidity? Here Ministers may make their appeal, Hear O Heavens, and give ear O Earth, Isa. 1. 2. It is strange the work of a Tormentor should be more faithfully done, than the work of a Pay-master; that the service of Apollyon should be done with liveliness and activity, and the work of a Savior should be done with dross and drowsiness. It is much Ahab should be so restless for a Vineyard, 1 Kings 21. 4. and we so drowsy for a Kingdom, nay, the Kingdom of Heaven, Luke 12. 32. How will Ruffins, Roysters, and roaring Companions spend whole days & nights, in quaffing, carowsing, and gaming? and we cannot spend one hour watchfully and actively for the pleasures of Eternity.

[unspec 2] There are some Ordinances we will not sleep at, when we come to the Lord's Table; it is no less then prodigious to fall into a sleep: why then in Prayer or hearing of the Word? It is the preaching of the Word is the converting Ordinance: Faith comes by hearing, Rom. 10. 17. which faith espouseth us to Christ, justifies our persons, Rom. 5. 1. Seasons our Duties, Heb. 11. 6. Purifies our hearts, Heb. 15. 9. Unlades our guilt, and lays it upon him who is mighty to bear. It is faith by which we put on Christ, Rom. 13. 14. and so being clothed with the spotless robes of his righteousness we may stand with confidence before God's tribunal. Preaching is the Mother, the Sacrament only is the Nurse of Grace; preaching the Word of Christ fits us for feeding upon the body of Christ. Paul gives preaching the preeminence, 1 Cor. 1. 17. And so prayer it carries the conquest of omnipotency itself, Isa. 45. 11. Yet we are often guilty of drowsy prayers, and sleepy hearing, when we tremble to think of sleeping with a Sacramental Cup in our hand. Alapide observeth, The predominant duty of Bishops is to preach the word. And yet this Ordinance principally must be a witness of our shame.

[unspec 3] This sleeping in Ordinances is a sin, which Satan mightily promotes; he knows of what fatal consequence it is for the soul to hear attentively, to heed diligently the word of life, and reconciliation; this will batter his Kingdom, and pluck Proselytes out of the paw of this roaring Lion: And therefore when we come to a Sermon, he either attempts to disturb and distract us, and to throw in his cursed injections to procure a hurry in the soul; he will then either suggest unto us vain impertinencies, which may be as Sodom's pleasures to Lots wife, to cause us to look back, or so many golden balls to stop us in our journey towards the Heavenly Canaan; or else, this evil one will assail to rock us asleep, and so sit heavy upon our eye lids; he will bring down and pillow for us to lean upon. This is the stratagem of Satan, if he cannot steal us from the Word, to keep us back from Ordinances, he will steal the Word from us, to make Ordinances useless and unprofitable, Mat. 13. 19. The souls term time, is Satan's tempting time: When we are most busy about our souls, he is most active against them; he will make any music to rock us asleep, when we are discoursing with Jesus Christ. The Syren sings sweetest, when we are upon the waters sailing to our Port; and Satan never sweetens his temptations more, then when we are sailing heaven-wards; and therefore when we sleep in Ordinances, let us remember, the Charmer hath swayed with us more then the Preacher.

[unspec 4] A sleepy eye in holy Ordinances is a sad sign of a sleepy conscience; if the eye be drowsy without, it is much to be feared the heart is dead within. It is very observable, A fat heart, a deaf ear, and a closed eye, are all coupled together, Isa. 6. 10. Grace is an awakening principle; the power of grace will fix the eye in heavenly contemplation, will bend the knee in humble supplication, will lift up the hand in holy devotion, will wind up the tongue in savoury communication, and will bow the ear in holy and careful attention. A gracious heart will even Quick-silver the body in holy duties, and make the flesh serve the spirit, and the senses be as Gibeonites to the soul. As the Arts soften us to ingenuity, and will not suffer us to be brutish, so a conscience awakened by a work of grace, will keep the eye awake in Ordinances, seriously considering,

• 1. That every Ordinance concerns the soul.
• 2. That every Ordinance may be the last.
• 3. That every Ordinance is the purchase of Christ.
• 4. That every Ordinance is a good wind for Heaven.

In a word, The work of grace may very well be suspected, where the means of grace are so much slighted, as to be passed away in a sleep, and a dream.

[unspec 5] Let us consider there will be no sleeping in hell. Here we sleep when we might awake; there we shall awake, when we cannot sleep; we shall take no naps upon our bed of flames: Scorching wrath, screetching cries, gnawing conscience will keep the reprobate waking; Here we sleep unseasonably, and let us take heed least we awake eternally, and carefully beware least for want of watching one hour, we lose our rest forever.

[unspec 6] There is no sleeping in heaven, Rev. 4. 8. Now Ordinances they are the glimpses of heaven; And it should be our endeavor to serve God here; as the Saints and Angels do in glory; there is no weariness, no drowsiness, no deadness, there hallelujahs are pleasant and perpetual. When we come to the Sanctuary, we are about heavenly employment, and let us study a heavenly deportment; and let us ask our souls the question, Would an Angel (was he capable of it) fall asleep when he converses with God?

And further to discourage us from the practice of this customary and crimson abomination, let us observe a few quickening and awakening prescriptions.

[unspec 1] Let us be instant with God beforehand for a suitable frame of spirit. Was the heart tuned by preparatory prayer, the strings would not so soon crack in sleep and drowsiness; a warm heart would cause a wakeful eye. Neglect of preparation exposes us to wanton glances, wandering thoughts, and a sleepy eye in holy administrations. Gardens if not digged and dressed, bring forth weeds, not flowers.

[unspec 2] Let us converse with God in Ordinances, as either employed in our Bibles, or our Note Books; we shall hardly sleep with a Book or a Pen in our hands. If our eye was employed in Scripture search, it would not suffer the eye lids, those curtains to be drawn for sleep and sluggishness. But oftentimes the shutting of the Book brings the shutting of the eye; and if we stand idle in the market of Ordinances, who will hire us but Satan?

[unspec 3] Let us fix a steady eye of faith upon God and the glorious Angels, when we come to Ordinances. We will not sleep in the presence-chamber, especially if the Prince and Nobles be there. The blessed Ordinances are Christ's Presence-Chamber, his Court, his Garden, his Banqueting-House, and shall we sleep in the presence of the King of Saints, Nay, the King of Nations? as the Prophet calls him, Jer. 10. 7. Nay, the King of Ages, as the vulgar Latin terms him; this is not only incivility, but impiety.

[unspec 4] Let us take heed of pampering Nature. An over-free use of the Creatures on God's holy day will lay us open to sinful drowsiness, when we make Kitchins of our bellies, the smoke will soon fly in our eyes, and incline us to wretched and careless sleepiness. When Lot was overcharged with Wine, he soon sleeps himself into incest and wantonness.

[unspec 5] Let us come to Ordinances expecting great things from God. They are vigilant who are in a waiting posture. Beggars are not dormant, if they are so in the Barn, they are not so at the door. Let us come to Ordinances, as to a Golden Mine; the Miners do not sleep with the iron instruments in their hands. Let us approach to the Sanctuary looking for grace, loves, smiles, the kisses of Christ's lips, the light of God's countenance, and this will keep us wakeful. Cold desires, and mean expectations make us careless and oscitant in Ordinances. We sleep not telling Pearls, or picking Diamonds: there are better riches to be found in Communion with God.

CHAP. XXIX. Other Evils to be avoided in our outward behavior, when we come to the Public Assembly.

[unspec 2] WE must not rove in Ordinances. As the eye must not sleep, so it must not wander, when the eternal Gospel is preaching, or we are pouring out our souls in holy prayer, to an infinite God. It is recorded of Christ's Auditors, that they did fasten their eyes upon him, Luke 4. 20. We must bring a double eye to every Sermon:

1. The eye of our body, and this must be fastened on the person of the Minister.

2. The eye of our understanding, and this must be fastened on the Doctrine of the Minister. And as Solomon saith, Eccles. 2. 14. The wise man's eyes are in his head, especially when he approacheth to holy Ordinances; then as he is to look to his feet, Eccles. 5. 1. so likewise to his eye. Our Savior tells his hearers, Luke 10. 23. Blessed are the eyes, which see the things which ye see; as if properly the Gospel did belong to the eye, rather then to the ear; and the wandering eye in Gospel Ordinances, was the greater crime. Indeed when the eye is fixed, the heart will be composed; and the more we view the Preacher, the more we shall mind the preaching. We must take heed to the eye in Ordinances; a captivated eye will easily affect, and seduce the heart; and when all is withdrawn, what shall the Word work upon? The eye is the window of the soul; let us see that this window open towards Jerusalem, that it sparkle in zeal, be fixed in love to Christ, that it be composed to reverence, when we come to spiritual opportunities. It is the just reproach of the Papists, that they bring wanton and lustful eyes to their Orisons and devotions, and more look after a curtizan then a Christ. But when we meet in the assemblies of the Saints, let our eye be lift up to God in holy admiration, let it be fixed on his Ambassador to behold his zeal and devotion, let it be viewing and turning over the Scriptures in a Berean noble examination, Acts 17. 11. searching what is quoted and delivered, and let our eye melt in tears, and tenderness in humble and broken compunction, 2 Chron. 34. 27. The eye hath its work and offices in Gospel opportunities. In which we must see

• First, That our eye be fixed.
• Secondly, That our ear be attentive.
• Thirdly, That our grace be active.
• Fourthly, That our heart be receptive, to entertain the word of life and salvation.

[unspec 3] We must not talk or discourse in the time of Ordinances. The wise man saith, Eccles. 5. 2. In praying our words must be few, but in our hearing all words must be forborne, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a little to invert the Philosopher. The Apostle saith, 1 Cor. 14. 33. God is the Author, not of Confusion, but of Peace. Now private whisperings and vain chat in holy Ordinances, they are the confusion and disorder of holy assemblies; have we not tables to talk at, or houses to discourse in? Must the Sanctuary of God be our Change to tell of news, our Shop to talk of Commodities, our Parlour to prate of family affairs, or whatever our slight hearts will froth out? When Proclamations are made, all keep silent; and surely silence doth not less become us when the Ambassador of Christ proclaims liberty to the Captives, and the acceptable year of the Lord. We read of a silence in heaven, Rev. 8. 1. When something important was preparing for the world, and much more must this heavenly order be kept in the assemblies of God's people, when the importances of our souls are in their discovery; in this case, men as well as women must be silent in the Church, that God may come in the still voice to speak peace unto us; and that we may return no more unto folly, Psal. 85. 8. Paul would not preach his Sermon before silence was made, Acts 21. 40. Confused noise becomes Babel better then the Temple, the workmen of that prodigious structure, rather then God's people when orderly congregated together, and yet how many are guilty of this offense, they will be full of their salutes and complements, telling their tales, producing their intelligence, venting their vanities, even when the heart of God is opening in sweet and sacred dispensations; this is a Lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation. When we come to holy Ordinances, we should take up David's resolution to keep our tongue; that we offend not with our lips, Psal. 39. 1. And follow the injunction of the Apostle James, James 1. 18. to bridle our tongues: For surely if ever an unbridled tongue was the character and sign of irreligion, it is then when it breaks out in the time of holy Ordinances.

[unspec 4] Our outward behavior must not be vain and loose, but grave and serious in the public assemblies. The Turkish Bashaws sit silent, and are very composed in the presence of their Sultan, and shall a pedantique worm more over-awe those pieces of gravity, then the presence of an infinite God stake us down to a reverential behavior? God's presence makes every place a Sanctuary, as the presence of the King makes the Court, and therefore where ever we come to give him a meeting, let his eye rein us in, and draw us to a becoming veneration: When we read of a Jacob full of awe and dread in the apprehensions of the presence of God, and hear of a Solomon lifting up his trembling hands to seek the face of God, and observe holy Josiah weeping and melting at the hearing of the Law of God, 2 Chron. 34. 27. we must conclude these things were written for our instructions, 1 Cor. 10. 11. to show us how we must behave our selves in Gospel solemnities. The Bride dresseth herself in her choicest attire to meet with her Bridegroom. In every ry ordinance the believing soul meets with her beloved; shall there be no dress, no composing the behavior to love and reverence, that Christ may not suspend his salvifical embraces? As God shown infinite wisdom in forming a beautiful body out of a little scattered dust; so man shows great wisdom in composing this heavy piece of clay to reverence, when he comes to God in Ordinances.

CHAP. XXX. How to compose our inward man in our approaches to God in Ordinances.

HAving thus copiously shewn how we must order our outward behavior in public Ordinances: In the next place we must glance at out inward deportment, viz. That of the mind. The Prophet Jeremy adviseth us, Lam. 3. 41. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. The soul is principally interested in all holy duties.

First, Not only because in all holy services God principally eyes the heart, Prov. 23. 26.

Or Secondly, Because Gospel Ordinances chiefly influence and aim at the heart.

But Thirdly, Likewise because the welfare of the soul is the only Port we sail to in all our attendance upon Gospel opportunities: It is the souls conviction, the souls conversion, the souls edification and building up in its most holy faith, which is the grand design in every Evangelical administration. Now for the composure of our inward man in holy Ordinances,

[unspec 1] Let us apply our understandings to the word and the work we are about. The wise man saith, Prov. 20. 27. The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord; and when we come to holy Ordinances, it is both our duty and our wisdom to snuff this candle that it may burn the brighter, to see the mysteries of the Gospel; and this is suitable to the Apostolical Counsel, 1 Pet. 1. 13. Gird up the lo • ns of your mind. A metaphor taken from travellers, who gird their garments close that they may not be impeded and hindered in their journey. When we draw nigh to God in Ordinances, we must bend our minds and be intent on the word, and drink in truth, as the parched ground doth the rain; we must screw up our minds to an accurate observation of what ever is revealed unto us from divine Writ. If the Gospel be light, it is the eye of the understanding must behold this light; If the Gospel be a day, it is the eye of the mind must discern this day. Some hear the word and understand it not, and this is God's judgment. But some hear the precious truths of God and entertain them not, and this is man's sin. Men shut the eye of their understanding by carelessness and neglect. We should hear the word as condemned men their pardons, as Legatees the Wills wherein their Legacies are set down, with that intenseness of mind. Preaching, if we spur not up the mind to pursue it, is a noise, not the word, an inarticulate sound, not soul-saving Doctrine. And that our understanding may discharge its office, prayer must precede: That God would open the eyes of our mind, that we may see the wonderful things of the Law, Psal. 119. 34. and we must beg eye-salve, Rev. 3. 18. and that God would give us the spirit of Revelation, Eph. 1. 18. to shed a light upon our understandings, Luke 24. 45. that we may dive deep into the profound Mysteries of the Gospel. We know not what ardent prayer and a diligent mind may accomplish towards Scripture knowledge. Indeed the Gospel is proportionate to everything in man, it is honey to the taste, and Gold to the interest of man, Psal. 19. 10. It is music to his ear, Ezek. 33. 32. light to his eye, John 19. and comfort to his heart, Rom. 15. 3. And pity it is, the shutting of an eye, a little rareless remissness and not bending the mind, should rob the soul of such unsearchable treasure.

[unspec 2] We must deal with our hearts to embrace the word in the dispensations of it. The Gospel is not only to be let in by our apprehensions, but to be locked in by our affections, and we are to entertain it not only in the light of it, but in the love of it. The Apostle complains, 2. Thes. 2. 10. That many did not entertain the truth in the love thereof, that they might be saved. The truths of God must have the heart, and we buy them not by our audience, but our espousals. The word must dwell in us, Col. 3. 16. and not as a transient guest, but as an inmate. Scholars may understand the word, but Christians embrace it. It is a rare speech of the holy Psalmist, Psal. 119. 20. My soul breaketh for the longing it hath to thy judgments at all times. The word is the seed, the heart the ground, where this seed must be thrown. David calls the Law not his light, but his love, Psal. 119. 97. and his delight, Psal. 119. 35. When we come to Ordinances, we must resolve to treasure up truth, and entertain it as Lot the Angels, Gen. 19. 3. Or the Virgin Mary the wonders of her time, Luke 2. 19. A refractory will renders all opportunities of grace abortive. The two Disciples which came from Emmaus question one with another, Whether their hearts did not burn within them, when Christ had opened the Scriptures to them? intimating to us, that the heart is properly the Altar upon which the fire of the word is to be laid to the sacrificing of our lusts, and the inflaming of our graces. And it is the glorious promise of God to write his Law upon our hearts, Jer. 31. 33. Let us meet this blessed promise in bringing our hearts to every Gospel dispensation.

[unspec 3] We must put our memories upon employment when we come to holy Ordinances. The memory it is the Secretary of the soul, and as at Council boards the Secretary cannot be absent, so at Ordinances, which are the Council table, where soul-concernments are agitated and transacted, the memory must not be absent. We must not write the word when preached to us in dust, but in marble, not in a heedless neglect, but in a faithful remembrance. We do not throw Pearls into sieves to drop out. The paradox is greater when we put the eternal Gospel into a treacherous and faithless memory. Surely we shall never practice that truth we cannot remember, if we do not mind the word, we shall never live it. We cannot read blotted lines, or understand torn papers; and if the word lie only upon the surface of the memory it will never get within the bark of the life. That Sundial will never give us the time of the day, which wants the gnomon to cast the shadow: charge thy memory to retain every truth thou hearest; Let it pick up the filings of divine Truth, that nothing may be lost. The richest Fringes are so many several threads wrought together: We do not address ourselves to Ordinances to see our faces in a glass, as the Apostle speaks, Jam. 1. 23. and presently forget both our featute and complexion. Whatever truth thou forgetest, so much is lost to thy soul. We put not our Treasure in broken bags. The forgetful hearer is guilty of the same unthriftiness. Let us beforehand beg of God a firm and tenacius memory: He who gives wisdom, Jam. 1. 5. to understand his word, can give us a memory to retain it: All the faculties of the soul are created & enriched by him. Remembered Truths are probably riveted in the heart and revealed in the life. It is a most gracious providence of God that he commits his Word to writing: And shall that Word which hath been preserved by God for many Ages, even to a Miracle (the fury of Man, the rage of Persecutors, the malice of Satan, the subtlety of Heretics being considered) shall that blessed Word, I say, be lost by thee in a moment? where God hath brought a Pen to set down, wilt thou bring a spunge to blot out? Let us be serious, and consider God remembers those truths we forget, and if they are not the guide of the life, they will prove the guilt of the soul.

[unspec 4] Let us summon conscience to appear at every Ordinance. Satan will give us many dispensations in holy duties and divine worship; He will permit us an ear to hear, a tongue to pray; nay, he will not disquiet us in our transient heats of zeal, and sweet passions of joy, as Herod heard the Word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , sweetly; Our affections for a little time shall be dallianced and delighted with some sweet Truths, especially if they be set off by the musical voice of the Preacher; but this evil one will never suffer (if he can obstruct it) that conscience shall come into the Assemblies of the Saints, within the hearing of God's sacred and saving Word. Indeed, the purpose and design of the Word is to deal with conscience, to work upon conscience to convince conscience of the sinfulness of sin, of the loveliness of Christ, of the vanity of the creature, of the preciousness of the Soul, of the beauty of Holiness, of the easiness of Christ's Yoke, &c. Christ he Preaches, and convinceth Mary Magdalene in her conscience, and she melts in tears at his feet. Peter convinceth the conscience of the stubborn Jews, and they are pricked at the heart. Paul and Silas convince the conscience of the Jailor, and he is in a fit and an agony of trembling and despair, and presently falls upon enquiry after life and salvation. When thou approachest to Ordinances, if a sin be reproved, let conscience speak, is not this my default? If a duty be pressed, let conscience speak, is not this my tie and obligation? If a corruption be unmasked and detected, let conscience speak, is not this my Delilah, my right eye, which with Antigonus in his Picture, I put my finger upon? If self-denial be urged, let conscience answer, is it not the Cross I have so wriggled under, and have been so impatient of? Conscience is the chief Guest which is invited to the feast of an Ordinance. To leave conscience at home, is to let all the sons of Jesse to pass by, and to keep back David too, and so Samuel may go back again with his anointing Oil.

[unspec 5] Let us come to holy Ordinances with secret and severe resolutions to live them over, to practice every Prayer we put up, to act every truth we hear, and to adorn every Ordinance we enjoy. Our mingling with the people of God in holy worship, is only the bare canvass: It is Conversion brings the Pencil and the colors to draw a fair and beautiful piece. Moses when he came down from conversing with God, his face shone. Our light must shine before men after our communion with God in Ordinances. The light of the Gospel must enlighten our lives, as one taper lights another: It is rare, when our heart is suitable to God's nature, as it is said of David, 1 Sam. 13. 34. and our life is suitable to God's Law. And indeed, though the spiritual life, as the natural, begins at the heart, yet it doth not end there, but proceeds to the hands and the feet, &c. The same water which was in the Well, is in the Bucket. The holy heart is like a box of Musk which perfumes and scents the tongue, the eyes, the ears, the hands, and whatever is near it, with sanctity and holiness. The Ordinances should impress our hearts and influence our lives, and therefore a holy conversation is called a conversation becoming the Gospel, Phil. 1. 27. If we are resolved upon sin, let us lay aside holy Sabbaths, holy Duties, holy Ordinances. When the Preacher hath shut up all in the Pulpit, the hearer is to begin in his practice: the strokes in Musique must answer the notes and rules set down in the Lesson: Our actions are these musical strokes which must answer the rules set down in the Sermon. It is observable, that the blood was to be sprinkled on Aaron's right ear, on his right thumb, and on his right toe, Exod. 29. 20. The first did note the right hearing of the Word; the second and third, his working according to the tenor of it; His working by it, and his walking in it. Our Savior couples hearing and keeping the Word together, Luke 11. 28. The Porter is not so rich who carries the bags of Silver, as the Merchant who owns them: He is not so happy who hears the Sermon, as he who lives it. As one well observes, The Virgin Mary was more honored that she was the member of Christ, than that she was the mother of Christ. Life and holiness set off the luster and beauty of Ordinances. A savoury Christian is an Ornament to holy institutions. Prayer is music when holiness sets the tune; The Gospel is glorious when holiness gives the shine, and reverberates bright beams upon it. Let us then fully, in the strength of Christ, Phil. 4. 13. resolve, when we come to Ordinances, the Word shall be a Fire to our dross, a Curb to our passions, Musique to our ear, A Purge to our corruptions, a Light to our feet, a Card and Compass to our conversations. Some hear and deride the Word; Some hear and storm at the Word; Some hear and only admire at the Word: But let us hear, and both admire and reform, so hear as to set our dial according to the Sun of the word: And as many as walk according to this Rule, the peace of God shall be upon them, and the whole Israel of God.

[unspec 6] Let us take heed of wandering thoughts in holy Ordinances. It is storied of Bernard; that when he came to the Church door, he would say, Stay there all my earthly thoughts. Let us go and do so likewise; When we approach to holy Ornances, let us say, stay behind me all my secular imaginations, all my worldly cares, all my vain and impertinent thoughts, we are now going to meet with God on the Mount. [unspec 1] Vain thoughts in holy Worship, they are as weeds in the Garden, or those painted plants in the Corn, which hinder the springing up of the blessed seed of the Word; Indeed they are like Thieves who dog us to do us a mischief, either to steal away the comforts of the Word, or to wound and burden Conscience, or to keep the heart in an hurry till Christ's message be delivered, and the blessed opportunity be over. These vain thoughts in Ordinances are the flies in the ointment, the motes in the eye of the soul, and the spots in the feast of an Ordinance. But here, we will first find out the disease, and then apply the Remedy.

[unspec 2] All our wandering thoughts in holy Ordinances, They are open and offensive to God's eye: They cannot creep so sliely and closely through the mind, but God fully observes them, certainly takes notice of them, and as surely is angry at them, 1 Chron. 28. 9. God's eye is more peculiarly upon us in holy Worship. Beggars crowd not into the Presence-Chamber. Vain thoughts what are they but the rags of the mind, the emblems of our nakedness and poverty, and shall these thrust in when we are in the Presence-chamber of the infinite Majesty? God sees all these Vagrants, and shall we converse with him with Concubines in our bosoms? How often is it repeated, Christ knowing their thoughts, Mat. 12. 25. Luke 5. 22. Luke 11. 17. Luke 6. 8. which doth alarm us to keep our thoughts pure, especially in the Divine Presence, when God meets us in holy Worship. And let us seriously consider, Christ who is now the Spectatour shall be the Judge of our thoughts and imaginations.

Impertinent and vain thoughts they very much discompose and distract Duty; they are like a broken string in an Instrument, which makes the Musique harsh and unpleasant: They are the inward noise of the mind which so much disturbs us, that we cannot heed with that attention, nor pray with that devotion as doth become us. As if Musique should be brought into the Room, and play while we are hearing a Will read, we cannot apprehend one clause in it distinctly and to any purpose: such swarms of inconvenient thoughts hinder the ear from listening to, and the heart from fastening upon God in holy Worship, they are like Tobiah and Sanballat who hindered the building of Jerusalem. What confusion must there be, if the Minister speak, and the Spirit speak, and our worldly hearts speak all at the same time? whom shall we hear? God usually comes in the still Voice when the ear bends, and the heart waits silently at the door of Salvation.

[unspec 3] Vain thoughts in holy Ordinances, they are sinful irregularities, the spawn of the Serpent, they do not only disturb, but stain our duties: They are breaches of Divine Command, Prov. 4. 23. When we are in Ordinances we are not only to thrust out enemies, but to keep out wanderers. If we watch our hearts, we must not only resist Satan from his attempts, but reject foolish thoughts from their intrusion, their company being our crime. Indeed a careless hearer flings all open, and lets in light, vain, worldly, wanton, all ranks and degrees of sinful thoughts and imaginations. Surely it must be a great sin, that when in holy duties our hearts should be God's inclosure, we should make them a Common for all beasts of prey to graze upon. And how can we bring every thought in obedience to Christ, according to Command, 2 Cor. 10. 5. When our hearts in a duty are like open Cages for every thoughts to fly out, and perch upon any vanity it meets with. Our thoughts in duty must not sport, and like the Bees run from one flower of pleasure, to another of worldly affairs, and so skip over to another of ordinary occurrences, and think to suck sweetness from them. In Gospel opportunities our thoughts are not our own, but they are under Authority, and must be staked to the spiritual business they are now about, they must be confined to Truth, to Christ, to sacred Counsels, and holy instructions which are now in handling. and the suggestions of God's Word, which are now laid before them. And how can we be said to give God our hearts, according to that Command, Prov. 23. 26. if our thoughts are tossed too and fro in a loose vagary, when we are in Communion with God? To give God our hearts, is a gift never so rational, so necessary, so seasonable, as when we are in holy duties, then this donative is like ripe fruits, blown Roses, like those Commodites which bear the greatest price: So much of the thoughts as wanders from God, so much of the heart is estranged, and it must be so, for thoughts are only the hearts emissaries. And it is very remarkable, that those thoughts which are good in themselves, yet if impertinent to the duty in hand, viz. prayer, hearing, receiving, &c. they are sinful and irregular. As a Limner who eyes the hangings in the Room, the fret-work in the Ceiling, the largeness of the windows, which observation is not blame-worthy in itself; yet not eying the person, whose picture he is drawing, he is guilty of folly and carelessness. Our thoughts in holy duties are sinful, if not suitable.

[unspec 4] Wandering thoughts in holy ordinances, they are the ebullitions and breakings forth of a corrupt heart. Mans heart hath no month to be taken in, it is as the troubled sea, which always casts up mire and dirt as a Furnace, which is ever sparkling forth its vanity and folly, nay, the special presence of Christ in ordinances cannot shackle it, or compose it to a due consistency, it will steal away under the eye of the judge; impertment thoughts in holy duties are the pimples which evidence the heat of Corruption within: And here we may expostulate with Job, Job 14. 4. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? And surely the scum of a putrefied heart must needs be offensive to the pure eyes of an holy God; this is wickedness which God hath no pleasure in, Psal. 5. 6. Vain thoughts in duty are only the breaking of the impostumation which lies covertly in the heart, where no eye sees it.

But now the Disease being discovered, let us apply the Remedies. And for the preventing of wandering thoughts in holy Ordinances,

[unspec 1] Let us heartily bemoan these sinful impertinencies. Let us speak to God in the language of the Psalmist, Psal. 120. 5. Woe is me that I dwell in the Tents of Kedar! Woe is me that I cannot keep my heart close to Christ in holy Ordinances, nor watch with my Lord one hour, no not one hour, but that I dwell among sinful, vain, foolish and flatulent thoughts. God surely will take away the cumbersome burden of a troubled soul, if it be a real burden, he will chase away these frothy thoughts from our minds; and this is one of those burdens we must cast upon God, Psal. 55. 22. Christ will not break the bruised Reed: It breaks the very heart of a Saint, that when he should enjoy close Communion with Jesus Christ, a cloud of vain thoughts should interpose, to eclipse his happiness, and darken his comforts. Let us spread therefore this affliction before the Lord with a weeping eye, and a bleeding heart: God knows how to stop up every passage, that a vain thought shall not slip out of any cranny of thy heart.

[unspec 2] Let us over-awe our hearts with a sense of the divine presence. Say with the Centurion, Acts 10. 33. We are all here present before God. The Creature dares not trifle, if thunderstruck with the presence of the Lord; he cannot but know something of God's power, his own dependence. I can speak it by experience, saith Erasmus, That there is little good gained by the Scriptures, if a man hear or read them cursorily and carelessly; but if a man do it out of Conscience, and heedily, as in God's presence, he shall find such efficacy in it, as is not to be found in any other Book. God's eye will make us serious, and fetter our flitting thoughts. The Servant will not sport in the Masters presence. The Historian observes, That Domitian the Emperor played with flies when he was in the Chamber alone. Indeed we give the reins to our hearts in holy duties, because we think there are none see them; but were we sensible of the divine presence, and that God's piercing eye saw all the hurly burly in the soul, when our thoughts took their ranges, we should fetter our hearts straighter, then the Jailor did the feet of the Apostles, Acts 16. 24. and put a pad-lock upon our imaginations. We suppose there is none in the congregation but the Minister, and the people, and they are strangers to our thoughts, whether they are fixed or flying; but let us not deceive ourselves, our thoughts are as fair Champian to God's eye and prospect, as our actions.

[unspec 3] Let us take some pains with our own hearts. Children will be wanton, if not disciplined; our hearts will be flying, if not deplumed by care and industry. Charge thy heart in holy Ordinances, not to stir up to awake thy beloved until he please, which will be after the Ordinance to bless thy care and watchfulness.

We must pray against these wandering thoughts, that God would fix our Quick-silvered hearts, and keep Dinah at home.

We must strive against them, and set before our hearts,

• [unspec 1] 1. The eye of God:
• [unspec 2] 2. The day of Account, when evil thoughts will be canvassed, and condemned for lesser evils.
• [unspec 3] 3. The great evil of lesser sins; nay, let us threaten our hearts, if they will not commune with God in Ordinances, and be still, Psal. 4.
• 4. that we will fill them with smarting grief and sorrow.

We must fight against these vain and wandering thoughts, with the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God, Eph. 6. 17. We must convince our hearts, how many Scriptural Commands, wandering thoughts are the breach of, and therefore in themselves they are weapons drawn against heaven. Our hearts, like Gardens, are best when dressed, but being neglected, they are easily over-grown with sin and vanity.

[unspec 4] If vain and impertinent thoughts arise in our minds, when we are in holy Ordinances, let us not dwell upon them. Ah let us not take pleasure in speculative Wickedness. Evil thoughts, like Curtezans, if they are smiled upon, they grow impudent, and will crowd in upon the soul; therefore when such thoughts arise, send them away with a sigh. Let us drown our sinful thoughts, as Pharaoh did the Israelites Children, in their first birth, Exod. 1. 16. When our hearts are ready to cherish them, let our graces be ready to crush them. Vain thoughts even in holy duties, will be ready to break out, if the love of Christ, and holy resolution keep not the door. That heart-purifying-grace of faith will give these sinful intruders their speedy dismission.

[unspec 5] Let us preserve and keep holy affections in the heart; for such affections as we have, such necessarily will be our thoughts, Psal. 119. 97. Mal. 3. 16. The fear of God will make us think much of God. Indeed thoughts and affections are mutual causes one of another; thoughts are the bellows which enflame affections, and when they are enflamed, they cause thoughts to boil over; and therefore men newly converted to God, have new and strong affections, and they think more of God, then any other. Superlative love to Jesus Christ will scatter vain and wandering thoughts in holy duties; the soul will then say, I come to seek my Beloved.

[unspec 6] Let us get strong apprehensions of the holiness and purity of God: And let us consider how unsuitable vain and slight thoughts are, to his holy and unblemished thoughts, how unsuitable our mud is to his Crystal. What is the reason, that the Saints and Angels in Heaven have not a vain thought, they strike not a wry stroke, the sight of the holy God doth fix them. Nothing would more spiritualize our thoughts in holy duties, then the consideration of God's Attributes, the transcendent brightness of those most glorious beams. The Masters eye keeps the Servant demure and observant; and nothing more consolidates man's heart, then the serious apprehensions of a glorious and infinite God.

[unspec 7] Let us be earnest with God for the spirit: He can sanctify our thoughts in holy Ordinances, and keep them close to the work in hand. The spirit of God can turn the heart, which naturally is a bed of lust, to become a bed of spices, and so fill it with divine cogitations; this blessed spirit can present the soul with Heavenly objects, in Heavenly duties. The spirit is not only a discerner of thoughts, but the refiner of them, to purge away their dross and impertinency; and therefore called a Refiners fire, Mal. 3. 2. Our Savior faith, John 16. 13. The Spirit of truth shall lead us into all truth; and our hearts being guided, the thoughts will not be subject to wander into by paths, when we are interested in holy and sacred opportunities.

CHAP. XXXI. As we must be strict in our behavior, so we must be spiritual in our duties, when we approach the Public Ordinances.

HAving thus largely discovered how we must be strict in our behaviours in public ordinances, We come next to show, that we must be spiritual in our duties. The heart is the chief ghuest at every ordinance. The Egyptians of all the fruits, chose the Peach to consecrate to the Goddess, and they gave this reason for it, because the fruit thereof resembleth the heart. The Saints Character is from his inward carriage to God. The Kings Daughter is all glorious within, Psal. 45. 13. If we will worship God indeed, we must worship him in heart. Hypocrisy is but practical blasphemy. The heart is the King in the little world, Man. Our Savior saith, John 4. 24. God is a spirit, and he will be worshipped in spirit and in truth. In truth (i. e.) Scripturally, opposite to the inventions of men's heads; In spirit (i. e.) sincerely, opposite to the dissimulation of men's hearts. The deeper the belly of the Lute is, the pleasanter the sound is; the deeper our worship comes from the heart, the more delightful it is in God's eye: But now that our holy duties may be spiritually performed, that we may hear spiritually, and pray spiritually, and receive spiritually.

The inward man must be employed in holy ordinances; not so much the ear, as the understanding; not so much the knee, as the memory; not so much the tongue, as the heart; though as our Savior saith, Mat. 23. 23. This must be done, but the other must not be left undone. In legal sacrifices God would have the fat and the inwards, Lev. 7. 3. Is it not to inform us, that our services must not be specious, but spiritual, God must have the fat; and they must be cordial not extrinsical, God must have the inwards. It is not the Pharisees disfigured face, but Mary Magdalens melting tears, God eyes and respects. God is not delighted with the Pageant of a duty. The Service doth not please God, which hath Absalom's face, but which hath David's heart. Jehu's feigned zeal, Herod's seeming joy, no way comport with God's will. The melting frame of a weeping Peter, and the spiritual agony of a praying Hannah are in Christ a sweet smelling sacrifice to the Lord. The chief wheels, in prayer, in hearing, in meditating, and other holy duties, are the faculties of the soul; a supple will, a working mind, a faithful memory, embracing affections, these are the music of the Sphears in holy ordinances.

[unspec 2] The care of our souls must be the signal design in all holy Ordinances. It is not so grateful to perform service, as to advantage the soul in service, 1 Pet. 2. 2. When we come to ordinances, we must not study a secular interest, or to quiet the clamours of natural conscience, or to keep up a port in Religion, but we must study the interest and the emolument of our souls.

1. To raise them. Every Duty, every Sermon, every Prayer should be a wing to the soul, that it might fly higher towards God. Duties are not only to satisfy, but to sublimate the soul, to make it more heavenly, and more ambitious after a crown in glory; as those primitive Saints who looked upon the things of this life with disdain, soaring after a better Country, which was to come, Heb. 11. 13, 16.

2. We must study our souls in ordinances, so as so quiet them, to give them more peace and tranquility. Gospel seasons are not only for the elevation, but the calming of the soul. Satan disturbs, sin defiles, and lusts war against the soul, and the soul never finds rest, till it comes to God in ordinances, and there quietly it lies at Christ's feet, as Mary Magdalene, to receive the honey combs dropping from his lips. After Hannah had prayed, then she was no more sad, or discomposed, 1 Sam. 1. 18. When we acquaint ourselves with God in holy ordinances, we shall be at peace, Job 22. 21. and thereby good shall come unto us.

3. To spiritualize them. We sow in duty, we reap in grace, that we may be more humble, more holy, more savoury, and more serious in the things of God and Eternity. We enjoy the glorious Gospel, that we may pass from glory to glory, 2 Cor. 3. 18. Means of grace are for the getting of greater measures of grace; we feed upon the feast of Ordinances, that we may be strengthened in the inward man. The Apostle saith, faith comes by hearing, Rom. 10. 17. And the same Gospel is both the Mother and the Nurse of that heavenly grace. Study therefore thy soul in ordinances; for what will it profit thee to gain a whole world of Gospel opportunities, and at last to lose thy own soul?

[unspec 3] Let us study a broken frame of spirit in Ordinances. A eleven foot is a sign of Satan's appearance: A cloven tongue was a sign of the spirits appearance; but a cloven, broken heart is the sign of a Saints appearance. Our best composed services flow from a broken heart; Hezekiah's chattering like a Crane, Isa. 38. 14. And David's weeping oratory were forcible engines to batter heaven. Our hearts, like clouds, they are best when melted. It is well, when our services, like Paul's companions, come to the shore upon broken planks. A melting spirit will melt God into compassion. Moaning Ephraim is a pleasant Child, Jer. 31. 20. The softer the heart is, the sweeter is the duty. Squeezed Grapes only yield the Wine. The Psalmist avers, That the Lord is nigh to them, who are of a broken heart; he loves to dwell near them; nay, the Prophet saith, he loves to dwell with them. Unquestionably God is never more seen in the Sanctuary, then when it is a Bochim, a place of tears, and spiritual dissolvedness. Broken clouds forerun a fair day; broken hearts foretell a fair acceptation: Thus Christ comes in at the clefts of the Rock, Cant. 2. 14. And when we faint most, we sink least: When the Spouse is sick of love, Cant. 5. 8. then is her beloved well pleased.

[unspec 4] When we are most spiritual in ordinances, let us h • ve ardent desires to be better in those sacred administrations. The gracious soul is good at desires; he would offer better, if there was better in the flock; his love shall piece up what is wanting in his duty; though he cannot be excellent, yet he would be obedient, if he cannot offer an entire service, yet he would sacrifice a broken heart to God; and though his services are wanting in weight, yet they are not deficient in wish; his desires are plumed, though his performances flag and hang the wing. Abel will give the best, though he hath no better; and though the Saint can only offer a little Goats hair, or a pair of turtle Doves, yet he would offer a young Bullock, or the fat of Rams; he could wish his tongue was more fluent in prayer, his ear more attentive in hearing, his spirit more melting in service, his heart more open in ordinances; his desires are fledged, though often his duties are in the shell. And this would become us in holy ordinances; when we are best, to think we are short, and when we fly fastest, to complain of our clipt wing; and when we follow hardest after God, to suppose we might mend our pace. And surely, holy desires after better things are most pleasing to God. The Child who offers to serve his Father is very acceptable, though his desire be more then the Act. Paul pressed forward towards the Mark; in this, our exsample.

[unspec 5] We are most acceptable, and more truly spiritual in Ordinances, when we bring the whole man to them, when the knee doth bend, and the eye doth weep, and the heart doth yield, and the soul doth stoop, and the ear incline in holy duties. God's great work was to make the whole world for man; and man's good work in spiritual approaches, is to give the whole man to God. We must come to Ordinances as the Israelites went out of Egypt, with their whole train, we must come with all the faculties of our souls, and all the parts of our bodies. If there be one wheel missing in a watch, it cannot go at all to be an Index of time. And so in holy duties, if the ear be missing, or the memory wanting, or the heart lacking, all our design falls to the ground. Those who will serve God in ordinances must give him their hottest love, their highest joy, their strongest faith, their greatest fear; they must act every grace, extend every faculty, improve every part; all the worshipper must be employed in that sacred work. The Ship which sails well must have all its tackle, the Mast must be up, the sails must be spread, it must have both its pump and its lanthorn, the want of any furniture may endanger the whole. There must be head work, and hand work, and heart work in ordinances. It was the resolution of the Psalmist to keep the Commandments with his whole heart, Psal. 119. 69. It is the whole man which is grateful to God in holy duties: we must as the poor widow, give all we have, cast in all our capacities into the treasury of holy worship.

CHAP. XXXII. Active graces do well become Holy Ordinances.

AND we must not only be strict in our behaviours, and spiritual in our duties in the time of public Ordinances; but we must likewise be very active in our graces in those sacred solemnities. There are three seasons when our graces must be active and vigorous.

1. In a time of temptation: Then faith is a shield, as the Apostle speaketh, Eph. 6. 13, 16. Taking the whole armor of God, we shall be able • o withstand in that evil day.

2. In the day of affliction: Then patience keeps possession, and self-denial breaks the stroke. Wind up the watch, and it goes as stedily in the night as in the day.

3. In Gospel opportunities. The breast is full of milk, but the Child must draw and strive to get it out. There is a life and sweetness in Ordinances, but grace and desire must draw it out, there must be a hand of faith to let down the bucket to bring up the water from the wells of Salvation. If any ask what spices must flow out, what graces must be acted in holy ordinances, it is answered

[unspec 1] We must act our knowledge in holy duties; We must know it is God the infinite Jehovah with whom we have to do▪ All worship without the knowledge of the true God is a notion and empty speculation. God alone is the object of a godly man's worship, Exod. 20. 2. His hope is in God, Psal. 39. 7. His dependence is on God, Psal. 62. 8. His dread is of God,