The Practical Sabbatarian

CHAP. XXXIII. How we must improve the interval between the Morning and the Evening worship in the public Assembly.

THE public worship being over, and the assembly of God's people being scattered, as fruitful clouds which are melted into their several drops, let us repair to the lesser Church, our family, and follow Christ home, and entertain him there with holy communion. Christ hath his lesser as well as his greater banqueting house, Cant. 2. 4. And will meet us in our houses as well as in his own, Mal. 21. 13. the place of more solemn assemblies. He who will come to the house of a Pharisee, Luke 14. 1. will come to the house of a believer. Therefore after the public ordinances are done and finished, let us haste to our habitations as fast as Zacchaeus to his, Luke 19. 6. to the same end with him, to entertain our dear Jesus, and pursue those family duties which are incumbent upon us, which now shall be opened and discoursed upon. There are several duties which must take up this interval, that it may not be an empty and unbeautiful chasm.

[unspec 1] Let our meal be adorned with temperance, and made lushious and sweet with holy and savory discourse. Heavenly communication is salt at the table, is sauce in the dish, is a flavour in our drink. Full meals are those which are spiritualized, and they have most of rarity which have most of heaven. Our tables are spread with variety, not from our dishes, but from our discourse. Tertull. speaking of the carriage of private Christians at their meals, tells us, That they do not sit down before they have prayed, they eat as much as may satisfy hunger, they drink so much as is sufficient for temperate men, and are so filled, as they that remember that God must be worshipped even in the night season. O the golden temper of these golden times! Temperance must be the Caterer, and holy discourse must be the music of our tables. Our tongues are instruments, but the good spirit must tune them. Holy discourses are perfumes which are not only pleasant to ourselves, but delightful to others, they are the trumpets of our piety, the sparks which fly from our zeal, the disburdening of a gracious soul, they are a celestial harmony which makes a meal on a Sabbath pleasant and seraphical. And therefore let us discourse at our Sabbath meals on some things delivered by the Minister, or some spiritual matter which may administer grace to the hearers, and let us avoid the common rock of vain and worldly talk. Xenocrates the Philosopher being in company with some who used evil language, he was very mute, and being asked the reason, he replied, It hath often repented me, that I have spoken, but never that I have held my peace. Oh that our hearts and lips were heavenly on the Lord's day! that there might be more sprinkling of grace in our discourses: This would turn our food into Manna, and drop dissolved Pearls into our Cup, and turn our board into a Communion table. Holy discourse, it

• First, Warms the heart.
• Secondly, It gives vent for grace.
• Thirdly, It is the bellows of zeal.
• Fourthly, It often awakens conscience.
• Fifthly, It is the Gangrene of sin, as silence and flattery are the promoters of it.

Sixthly, Nay it countermines Satan, and turns him out of the room where our table stands.

Seventhly, Holy discourses are the freedom of imprisoned piety, and the Midwife of that holiness which lies in the womb of the heart, the turning up of that truly golden Ore; they are the Saints Shibboleth, which distinguishes him from the foolish world, which travels with froth and vanity. In a word, holy discourse is the ease of Conscience, the sacrifice of Religion, the Saints refreshment, the sinners chain and astonishment, heavens echo, the delight of Christian Society, It is a twofold Charity:

First, To ourselves; it enfranchises our affections to Christ; our heart is full of love to him, and holy discourse gives vent to our full hearts; it is the discharge of our duty, and so frees us from the guilt of disobedience; and moreover it gives fire to our dedolent hearts. Our hearts must be awakened and raised, sometimes by ordinances, sometimes by prayer, sometimes by holy discourses,

Secondly, Which likewise are charity to others: They may be their satisfaction, an answer to their scruples, a corrosive to their lusts, a check to their sin; thou knowest not but thy good discourse may be as an Angel in the way, to stop some sinful progress, or a flame to another's zeal, and a salve to another's sore. Such discourse becomes our table on the Lord's day, and becomes the Sabbath, as rich attire the beautiful person, the garment sets off the person; and the person adorns the garment. It is reported of the hearers of holy Mr. Heldersham, that they would go home from Church discoursing of he powerful and precious truths which were delivered, and so they did strew the way home with Roses, and made their miles short by heart-sweetening discourse. Christ when he was with his little family, his twelve Apostles, he would always be speaking of the things of heaven, Mark 4. 10. Gracious words would flow from him, as drops from the fountain, or the morning dew from above. It was a charge laid upon the Israelites to discourse of the statutes of God, when they were in their houses sitting with their Children and Servants about them, Deut. 6, 6, 7. The two Disciples going from Emmaus, were talking of the sufferings and the affairs of Christ, and then their dear Mediator joins in with them, Luke 24. 15. Dr. Bound observeth, That when we have heard the word upon a Sabbath, we must discourse of it, unless we will lose a great part of the fruit of it. A talking of worldly affairs, will chase away that truth we have been made partakers of. And indeed none but a corrupt heart would chain up holy discourse upon the Lord's day; that heavenly season when gracious words should be our dialect. If the word of God dwell richly in us, Col. 3. 16. Inhabitants will not always keep within doors, we shall bring forth our treasure for the enriching and edifying of others. And let us not excuse ourselves with a pretence of shamefastness. The shame of the world will not keep us from vain, why then from godly discourse? Sweet and spiritual communication is none of those fruits whereof we may be ashamed, Rom. 6. 21. Nor let ignorance be alleged for an excuse; ignorance itself might induce thee to propound things profitable, which will feed good discourse; the Question will beget an answer, and the Answer will bring forth a progeny of heavenly communion. But in a word, what do our tables (especially on the Lord's day) without savory and Christian discourse differ from a manger.

[unspec 2] After our meal our dinner is over, then follows not only the digestion of our food, but of the word that better food which nourisheth unto eternal life; and this will be the best wine at the end of our meal, John 2. 10. We must repeat over, discourse over, pray over that word we hear in the Morning. in the public Congregation. Indeed Truth is most pleasing when most tasted. David calls the word Honey, Psalm 19. 10. and honey pleases not the eye; but the palate; it is better food then prospect: Then the word doth its work, not when it is only heard, but when it is ruminated on, and is not only discovered but digested; it then doth most good to us when it is riveted in us: fastened nails help forward the building, not those which lie loose up and down; when we work God's word upon our hearts, this is like inlaid Gold which makes the richest embroydery. Hearing may bring a truth to the head, but meditation and a careful pondering works it into the heart. It is the seething of Milk makes the Cream. The Be sucks the flower, and then works it in his Hive, and makes honey of it. Satan himself is called an Angel of light, 2 Cor. 11. 14. He knows very much: It is not truth in the head, but riveted, fastened and settled in the heart, which speaks us to be translated from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, Acts 26. 18. Chrysostom in one of his excellent Homilies upon Matthew, lays it as a charge upon Christians, That when we depart from the Ecclesiastical Assembly, we should not in any case entangle ourselves in businesses of a contrary nature, but as soon as we come home, turn over the holy Scriptures, and call our wives and children to confer about those things which were delivered in public; and after they have been deeply rooted in our minds, then to proceed to provide for those things which are necessary for this life. And the same worthy Father makes the Similitude: When, saith he, we retire from Fields in their beauty and flourish, we bring some Rose or Violet home with us; And when we come from a goodly Supper, we bring some remains of those dainties and give them to our friends: And when we have been in public Ordinances, shall we not bring some doctrine and heavenly admonition to our wives, friends ad children, when this doctrine is more profitable then the flowers of the field, or the dainties of the Table. Heavenly Truths are Roses which will not shed, fruits which will not perish, and delicacies which will not corrupt, &c. So then, the word which we hear in the public Assemblies, that heavenly food must be concocted, it must be walked down by holy Meditation, staked down by good and seasonable Communication, fastened upon the soul by holy musing and ardent Prayer. The seed in the ground brings forth grain, not the seed upon the top of the clods: The digested word will bring forth twins, delight and obedience. Women when they dress themselves, they do not walk by the Looking-glass: but set themselves before it and spend some time in fastening every pin: only to hear the Word is but to walk by the Glass; but repetition, discourse, prayer, and contemplation must fasten every truth upon the soul, and so it will look amiable and beautiful. The clean beasts chew the cud, Levite. 11. 3. The careful Christian will whet the word upon his own, and as much as may • e upon another's heart. The Bereans obtained the title of Noble, not from hearing, but examination of the Word, not for anything they did in the public Assembly, but from what they did at home. The winnowed Corn is fit for use when it hath passed the Flail and the Fan. The Word digested is fit for practice when it hath passed the meditation of the head, the discussion and discourse of the tongue, the pondering and the laying up of the heart. The hearing of the Word only is but a beautiful Prospect, which is delectable, but not durable; but the weighing of the Word in the scales of judgment, the beating of it out by the labors of the mind, makes it a rich treasure and a stock of divine counsel for the life to spend upon. The Psalmist no less then seven times in one Psalm professes, that the Law was his meditation: he did not run over the beauty of it with a glance of his eye, or pass over the music of it as the playing of a tune, and so lay aside the Instrument; but his thoughts did dwell upon it as the Scholar upon his books: Let us, as our Savior saith, go and do so likewise; and let us remember, that on God's blessed Day, and on God's blessed Word, our work is much at home, in our Families, and with our hearts.

[unspec .3] Let us spend the interval between the Morning and Evening worship in public, in holy prayer. Prayer is suitable to every division of a Sabbath: It doth not only prepare us for public duties, but succeeds those public ordinances to us; It is like a good wind which doth not only carry us off from the shore, but goes along with us the whole Voyage; it is a sweet duty, which must be interwoven in every part of a Sabbath. Prayer plows the heart for the seed of the Word, it commands rain to prosper that seed, it secundates and ripens the Corn when it appears above-ground, and it keeps the weeds from choking the Corn; It doth the whole work. When we have been in public with God, Private prayer in Christ is the Altar which sanctifies the gift: and Prayer in this interval of holy worship looks with a double aspect, backward to what we have heard, and forward to what we may hear; indeed in this being like the Word, a two-edged Sword, it hath a double edge for our spiritual advantage. Now our Prayer is like the sword at the east of the Garden of Eden, which turned every way. Prayer in the Closet often saves us the labors of the Pulpit, and directs the speech of the Minister to prick the heart of the hearer. Ananias came to Paul when he was praying, Acts 9. 11. If the Word be an hammer, it is prayer causes the stroke; if the Word be fire, it is prayer lays this fire on our hearths: if the Word be a sword, it is prayer weilds this Sword to wound our lusts and corruptions. In a word, private prayer is the best means to prosper public preaching, and to guide the arrow of truth to hit the mark of Conscience.

[unspec 4] Another Duty which must take up the space between the public Ordinances is, reading thē Scriptures. When we come home from the public, we must not be confined to the inclosure of the Ministers Sermon, but we must open to the wide though pleasant Common of the whole book of God, we must read some Chapters for spiritual edification. Anselm used to call the Scriptures the spiritual Table of the soul furnished with all heavenly delicacies, and with the choicest good things. And on God's holy day, when our own table is taken away; Let this spread-table be set before us for soul-feeding and repose. Every Chapter which may be read, is an Epitome of divine Truth, which may train up our children and influence our servants, and which may build up our own souls, and water every branch of the Family for spiritual growth in the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord, Phil. 3. 8. Jerome reports of Paula, that he used the Scriptures as a Medicine against every disease; If her enemies were violent, she would turn over the Psalms; If her temptations were strong, she would fix upon some part of Deuteronomy; If her afflictions were forcible, then she consulted some part of the Prophesy of Isaiah; and so she drew the Scriptures into an universal comfort to her. The Word of God is our light to guide us, Psalm 119. 105. And that family where the Scriptures are much read, is a Goshen of light and pleasantness, where Israel resides and inhabits, when other habitations are covered with Egyptian darkness, with the darkness of sin and ignorance. Governors of Families are the best stewards, not only when they lay in provisions from the Market, but when they bring forth spiritual food from the Scriptures, by reading conscionably and constantly those Oracles of God to those under their roof: for holy Job confidently asserts, that the word is more necessary than the appointed food, Job. 23. 12. Let therefore the interval between the public worship be filled up with holy travel in the counsels of God recorded in Scripture. Our Savior imputed all the sottish mistakes of the Jews to their ignorance of the Scripture, Mat. 22. 29. and lays it as a charge upon them, to search the Scriptures, Joh. 5. 39. But it must not be, as Chemnitz observes, a transient glance, but a serious search, as Miners for Gold, with pains and delight. So then it is a great part of wisdom in Families to converse much with God's word, but especially on God's day, and most peculiarly when the most solemn and public worship doth not call them off.

CHAP. XXXIV. How we must spend the Evening of the Sabbath, when the Public Assemblies are dismissed.

THere are many who will give an easy answer to the question proposed, and will tell us, that when the public service is ended, we have our free liberty for all pleasing Recreations; we may exercise our skil in a pair of Bowles, we may exercise our valor in a pair of Cudgels, we may exercise our fancy in a Dance, or a Barly-break: But all the reply I shall make, (this being spoken to before) is, I hope we have not so learned Christ. Now therefore my next task is, to lay down those duties, with which we may close God's holy and blessed day.

[unspec 1] We must carefully survey, what we have been acquainted withal in the public. The Repetition of Sermons is a heartpenetrating, and soul-edifying duty, the very manuduction, and leading of families into the fear of the Lord: Holy truths are those divine fragments, which must not be lost, but gathered up by a faithful repetition. When the Minister hath ended to preach, we must begin to rehearse; such repetitions being the musical echoes from that sweet voice we heard before. If Paul thought it not grievous to write the same things, which he had taught before, Phil. 3. 1. We must not think it painful or impertinent to rehearse the same things which we have learned before. The repedting of truth preached, casts a new light upon it, it clincheth Gospel counsel the faster upon the heart; and so corruption receives a double, and by consequence a deeper wound. Samuel answered not God till the third time; it may be conscience will answer that word in the repetition, to which it did not listen in the delivery. Repetition of Sermons is like the Sun beams in the repercussion and reflection, which shine in a more fervent heat, and a more considerable warmth. The second shoot often kills the bird, when the first misseth: We know not what the second hearing of God's Word may act upon the soul. And we repeat Sermons in our families, not only barely to pass away the time of a Sabbath, but by this fruitful exercise our memories are recruited, the Sermon is more distinctly apprehended; the heart is a second time assaulted and stormed, that it may be taken and brought captive to the obedience of Christ; Besides in the repetition of the Word, we have a more private tender of life and salvation, misappehensions are this way removed, and the Original is cleared by the Copy: We often mistake the Minister, when the Word is delivered; when we repeat the word, the mistake is easily corrected and amended, to all which may be added by this heavenly course and practice. Families are trained up in Gospel discipline, and the more we hear of Christ in public and in private, the more our love to him is courted and conquered; and thus Servants better understand their duty, and Children better learn obedience. If we leave those Sermons we hear, at the Church door, and there take our farewell of them, Satan quickly takes up our lost treasure, and then our attempt in the public ordinances was in vain, it being not probable, that we should give those holy Sermons room in our hearts, which we were careless to lodge in our houses by a conscientious repetition. The strongest hold we lodge divine truth in, is slack enough. Satan is ready to untie the knot, let man's care tie it as fast as it may; and therefore we must tie truth upon the soul with a threefold cord:

1. With a diligent attention in the public Assembly.

2. With a heedful repetition in the private Family.

3. In ardent supplication running over the heads of the same Sermon in our more retired and severer Closets. It was the custom of our sweet and dear Jesus, after he had preached a Sermon to the multitude, to examine his Disciples privately about it, and to rivet what had before been revealed. Truths, like stars, are best when fixed; and when our hearts, not our understandings, are their Orbs to move in. Vain controversies, as the wise man speaks, may not be repeated, for that will separate friends, Prov. 17. 9. But divine Counsels must, for that will unite truths to the soul. And moreover our slippery memory may be made more consistent by repetition, and so retentive of that word, which is apt to slide away. Surely great are the advantages of repeating Sermons in our families; it is like Lots holy violence to the Angels to force them into his house. The rehearsal of holy truth, is a sweet attractive to draw Christ into the family, and it sents the house with sacred fumes, which the fire of the Word sends up: This worthy practice makes our houses Chapels of devotion, and is nothing but Religion drawn in a smaller frame. In a word, when the Ministers blessing hath opened the door of the Sanctuary for our departure, let us apply ourselves to this experienced medium for soul advantage; our souls which were tuning in the public may be musical in private, and the Sermon may be more sweet in the second gust and taste of it; like the works of some learned men, which are more refined and enlarged in the second Edition.

[unspec 2] Another duty calculated for the Evening of a Sabbath, is holy Prayer: This powerful service is a golden thread which must run through every space of a Sabbath; it is the sacrifice of the Closet, it is the service of the Family, it is the ordinance of the Sanctuary; it doth seasonably break the morning of a Sabbath, and usher in the following duties; it doth sweetly concur with the mid-day of the Sabbath, when our devotion, like the Sun, should be at the highest, remembering that the Commandment for the Sabbath is in the middle of the Decalogue. And there is more work for prayer, it must shut up both the Morning and the Evening Worship; there must be prayer to beg a blessing on truths already discovered, that in their light we may see light, Psal. 36. 9. And indeed prayer doth most becomingly close the Evening of a Sabbath; then the lifting up of our hands are instead of an Evening sacrifice. Prayer is like a setting Sun, which is most glorious; like a well fraught Ship after its Voyage, which lands at the Port, which is pleasing and joyous. In the Evening Noah's Dove brings the Olive branch. Prayer often is this Dove, when after the travels of the Sabbath, it sums up all, and importunes success and acceptation, then the soul is calmed with peace and rejoicing. In the Evening Christ wrestles with his Father alone in prayer, as if the Sun should not see the triumphs of his Victory. Daniel was praying in the Evening, and then the Angel came unto him, the messenger of glad tidings to this humble Supplicant. Fire comes upon Elijah's Evening sacrifice, when Prayer presented the oblation, as a sign of pleasing acceptation. We must then shut up God's day, at God's feet, that he may bid us depart in peace, for he hath accepted us in his beloved; otherwise we may go to bed, but not to rest: And our conclusive prayers in the Sabbaths evening must be,

1. Confessory. Our best Sabbaths have not escaped the stains of sin, there will be iniquity in our holy things; our best services are like the spotted moon, or a jewel with flaws. Augustine would beg pardon for the sins of his holy duties: And we, when our Sabbath is setting, have more need of tears then triumphs, and say, as the Romans did of one of their Victories, such another would undo them. Prayer therefore in the close of the Sabbath, must look up to God with a weeping eye, and we must pray, that God would forgive the sins of our prayers, that our dull ear, flat heart, ranging mind, floating thoughts, treacherous memory may be pardoned to us, and that the sins of our Sabbath, may not sour the sweets of our Sabbath; and so our precious privileges, become as Uriah’s letters whose contents were the destruction of the bearer: We let fall an Evening dew of tears upon our very services on God's holy day.

2. Petitory. But our sighs must not so stop our language, but we must be begging, as well as moaning; and there are many things we must importune the Lord for the winding up of his Sabbath; we must beseech him, that his smiles would speak his acceptation of what we have performed that holy day; that his spinit would feal upon us those instructions, which we have heard that day; that our lives might conform to those blessed ordinances which we have enjoyed that day; that a full fruition of himself may succeed the sweet communion we have had with himself that day; and that the present Sabbath may be the harbinger of an Eternal Rest, which is the glorious reserve God hath made for his Saints, Heb. 4. 9. We must likewise pray, that every lust complained of that day may receive its deaths wound; that every sin confessed and acknowledged that day, may receive its full pardon; that every opportunity of life possessed that day, may receive its designed end. Wrestling with God is never more seasonable, then on the day of God; then it is both seasonable and sweet; therefore let it put its last hand to our Sabbath. Of all graces, faith wears the Crown, Eph. 6. 16. Of all duties, Prayer wears the Garland, Isa. 45. 11. This is the favourite in the Court of heaven, to whom the King of Kings can deny nothing. God's house must be called a house of Prayer, Isa. 56. 7. not of hearing, not of singing, not of receiving, but of praying. One letter in God's name is, he is a God hearing prayer, Psal. 65. 1, 2. It is prayer can sanctify afflictions, it is prayer can bless provisions, it is prayer can sweeten Ordinances, and make them marrow and fatness to the soul, Psal. 63. 5. Prayer is the Porter to keep the door of our lips; Prayer is the strong hilt which defends the strength of our hands; Prayer is the Chymist which turns all into Gold; and it is prayer can turn a Sabbath into that which is better then gold. Let Prayer then bring up the rear of our services on a Sabbath.

3. Gratulatory. In the close of a Sabbath, let us triumph and •• joyce in the Lord, and in the cool of the evening let us not lose the heat of the day; Let not our Sabbath be as Nebuchadnezzar's Image, whose head was of Gold, breast and arms of silver, but the feet and lower parts iron and clay. Let not our hearts in the morning of a Sabbath, have heavenly heat, and be in a golden temper, and in the evening, as dead and cold as the iron and the clay. It is very sad, when our affections on a Sabbath, are like the grass the Prophet speaks of, Psal. 90. 6. In the morning it flourisheth, and in the evening it is cut down, dried up, and withered. Some experienced Christians can say, that upon the continued care throughout the Sabbath, in the evening thereof; they have received large enlivenings of soul. Plutarch reports of a River, which runs sweet in the morning, but bitter at night. Let not this be the emblem of our condition; but rather as Rivers have their Evening Tides, as well as their morning; so let it be full water with us in the evening of the Sabbath, and then we have many things to praise Jehovah for:

1. We must magnify the Name of God, for the time of a day, that the candle of our life burned one day longer, when Divine Justice might have snuffed it out.

2. For the sweetness of an Ordinance. Ordinances are the souls Jubile, the walks where we meet with our beloved, the Golden Scepter of Grace which God holds out to us, now to come in and receive favor, the white flag of heaven, to bespeak us to yield to Christ, and we shall be received into grace and favor; And how many of these Jewels doth God set a Sabbath with?

3. For farther tenders of life and salvation: Let God be praised, that still the bargain is driving for eternity; every offer of pardon in the Gospel is renewed love; the fresh soundings of God's bowels, his heart once more yearning towards the poor soul; And is not this worthy our highest thanksgivings? The Persians adore every new rising of the Sun, and shall not we adore the Lord for repeated tenders of salvation?

4. For the liberty of God's Sanctuary, which is his Royal Palace to entertain his Saints in, where he gives his sweetest and most satisfactory discoveries, Psal. 73. 17. There are the goings of God, Psal. 68. 24. There God showeth his power, and shines in his Glory, Psal. 63. 2. There God's strength is evidenced, and his beauty unmasked, Psal. 96. 6. And there he causeth his face to shine, Dan. 9. 17. which is the most beautiful sight on this side the beatifical vision.

5. Let us praise God for the Riches of a Sabbath. In this blessed season we enjoy the treasure of his Word, without which we should have been both unholy and unhappy; and by its powerful operations, we are made both gracious and glorious; and the giver of such a gift deserves the elevations of our praise, and we should commemorate it with an Higgaion Selah. The light of the Sun, Moon and Stars, are of great concernments to men, they are the Governors of day and night: But the light of God's Word is of infinite more value. The Sun shall be turned into darkness, and the Moon into blood, Joel 2. 31. but not an Iota of God's Word shall pass away or perish. By the Word, the glory and beauty of the New Creation, the curious piece of man's redemption, is seen and known; considering then we have our Fathers will in our Mother tongue, we have and hear the Gospel, which brings suitable remedies for every malady, suitable sucour for every misery, which brings the costliest Cordials, and the choicest Comforts; let the enjoyment of this Word spring our Hallelujahs in the close of a Sabbath.

6. For the frequency of a Sabbath. This might have been an annual, and not a weekly feast; were we kept for several months without a Sabbath, how would our spirits spring at such a days appearance? Why should the commonness of the Suns shining; and the Sabbaths coming, put a blast upon the mercy? A market day once in the week doth not tire or weary us; a Feast and Banquet once in the week doth not nauseate or surfeit us; when we mention the Sabbath, a greater then these inconsiderables is here. A learned Author observes, That near the Pole, where the nights endure divers months, the Inhabitants in the end of such a night, when the Sun begins to be seen, they deck themselves in their best apparel, and get up to the Mountains with joy and singing, and cry out, the Sun appears, the Sun appears. And shall not our Sabbath, when the Sun of Righteousness appears; lay as great a foundation of joy and exultation in our souls? Indeed our Sabbath doth not only necessitate our praise for the sweet provision of it, but for the speedy revelation of it. The Circle turns about quickly, and then the Sabbath comes again, and meets us with his heavenly salutes. The monthly light of the Moon, how doth it cheer the world? Much more the weekly splendor of the Sabbath, when the gracious person scaps in the womb of it, as fore-telling the coming of a Jesus, Luke 1. 44. This weekly rest how sweet is it to God's holy ones, and what a softening argument to praise and thanksgiving.

[unspec 3] Nor must we omit Catechizing of Children and Servants in the close of a Sabbath. The learned observe, That the Greek word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , to catechise, signifies to resound as by an echo. When we draw answers from our catechists, our children or servants, their answers are but the echoes of divine truth rebounding from the tongue of the answerer, which needs must be pleasing and musical to the examiner. This work of catechizing is like the watering of flowers, which makes them smell and grow: This is truly distilling doctrine like the rain, Deut. 32. 2. drop by drop, which probably will make its way into the heart at last. This practice of catechizing is the first liquoring of the soul, which will not easily wear of; This is the laying of the foundation Christ in youth, and foundations are not easily shaken: winds may annoy the roof of the house, but not touch the foundation. Governors of families build their houses not with brick, but instruction; and the hewing of hearts by inculcating the word of life upon them, is the hewing of stone which will last and continue. Indeed chatechizing is the feeding of the understanding, the exercise of the memory, the seasoning of the heart, the teaching of the tongue to pronounce Shibboleth; and fidelity in this duty will leave marks in the lives of Children and Servants. Let us then in the evening of God's day make a scrutiny into the knowledge of our families, that they may learn to know God and him whom he hath sent, and to obtain eternal life, John 17. 3. Masters are not only to teach their servants their trade, but their Christ: And Parents are not only to see their Children trained up in secular, but in spiritual learning.

First, Catechizing is a duty most gratefully accepted with God. God saith of Abraham, Gen. 18. 18. For I know him that he will command his Children and his Household after him, that they shall keep the way of the Lord. And for this God makes him a great and mighty Nation. God will assuredly bless and reward our religious care over our families, which is much evidenced in a careful catechizing of them. And as we study to diffuse knowledge to them, so will God shower down his blessings on us. Abraham's crown was not his flocks, but his care, not his wealth, but his diligence to train his family in the fear & knowledge of the Lord.

Secondly, Catechizing is a duty strictly charged upon us. God commands the people of Israel, Deut. 6. 6, 7. That his words may dwell in their hearts, and that they diligently teach them their children. Parents in families must be as lighted tapers, to give light to all who are in the house; first they must rivet God's word on their own hearts, and then drop it into the hearts of their families. Joshua 's resolve was, That he and his house would serve the Lord. Governors of families should be as Gardiners, which water the young plants at the root.

Thirdly, Catechizing is a duty most successfully pursued upon young ones. This is throwing seed into a fruitful ground, which will not want an harvest. Timothy was trained up betimes in holy Doctrine, and afterwards he was a most excellent Evangelist. When a house is strongly built at first, after-years will proclaim the care and fidelity of the workman. As Sir Walter Mildmay said of his College which he built, Immanuel College in Cambridge, He had planted an Acorn which might be an Oak in time; and this worthy College hath been the seminary of many learned and excellent men. Every serious catechizing of our family is the planting of an Acorn, and aftertimes may see the fruits of that holy plantation. We have all varieties of Arguments to press this necessary and excellent duty.

[unspec 1] We have Scripture. In the Old Testament the Jews were to teach their Children the Original use of the Passover, Exod. 12. 26, 27. & other points of the divine Law. The Lord speaks thus, Deut. 11. 18, 19. Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your hearts, and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes, and ye shall teach them your Children, &c. In those times children were taught the chief points of the doctrine of the Prophets, touching God, or the Law, or the Promise of the Gospel, or the use of the Sacraments, and Sacrifices, which were the types of Messiah to come, and of his benefits; these and other Principles children were taught at home by their Parents. In the New Testament, Christ commands little children to be brought unto him, Mat. 10. 14. This evinceth the necessity of a Christ for our Children: And how shall these young ones believe on Christ, of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a Chatechizer, without one to open and discover Christ to them in the plain and familiar way of Chatechisme? which plain method of instruction adapts and fits youth for hearing t • e Word from the Minister, and is the first round of the Ladder of Knowledge. The careful institution of children in Gospel-knowledge, was no stranger to the first times of the Church: and therefore the Apostle Peter calls the Word Milk, 1 Pet. 2. 2. as being fit and proportionate sustenance for young ones in Religion: And the Promises are called the Breasts of Consolation, Isa. 66. 11. for young Children to lie at, and draw comfort from them.

[unspec 2] We have Antiquity. A learned man saith, That Paul the Apostle was a Chatechist, grounding his assertion from 1 Cor. 14. 19. where that word we translate teach, is in the Original, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Catechize. The Sermons of the Apostle, often opened the very principles of Religion, which are calculated for the information of youth. And the same blessed Apostle lays down a short Compendium of Christian principles in a chatechistical Summary, Heb. 6. 1, 2. And we are told, that Cyril of Jerusalem composed a Catechism for the benefit of Christian youth; That Gregory Nyssene made a chatechistical Oration; And Augustine wrote a Treatise concerning chatechizing the ignorant, as being the most proper way of diffusing and disseminating Gospel-light. A learned man tells us, that Genson, Chancellor of Paris, in later times, did usually instruct Children, and did it to the great benefit of the Church of God: The Church did gather the fruit of such watered Nurseries. The same Author tells us, that Gerson wrote a Treatise concerning drawing children to Jesus Christ: And in this Tract, falls into this holy Rapture: O most holy Jesus, who after thee shall be ashamed to condescend to children, when thou hast invited little ones to thyself? O gracious Christ, wilt thou intwine children in thy sacred Arms, and fold them in thy divine Embraces? And shall any who is spiritual, and seeks not his own things, but the things of Christ, whom charity, humility and piety guides, refuse the introduction of younger ones, to prepare them for the Embraces of the dear Jesus? Eusebius writes of Origen, that he restored the pious custom of Chatechizing in Alexandria, when in times of persecution it was very much decayed. Chrysostom was wont pathetically to persuade his Auditors; that when they came from Church on the Lord's day, That they should discourse among themselves, and Parents with their children, Masters with their servants, how they might act and do what they were commanded. And Origen, in his 9th. Homily on Leviticus, makes it his serious Option, That we would be exercised, not only in the Church, but in our houses in meditating and canvasing God's Word; For, saith he, Christ will be with them, who seek after him. Thus we see the Golden times of the Church much favored and followed this successful practice.

[unspec 3] We have reason. 1. Catechizing is necessary, that Novices and young ones be not entangled and seduced into erroneous opinions, Chatechizing is the hammer to beat down heresies: Cloth which is died in grain before, will not easily take another color. Youth having drunk in the saving and fundamental Truths of Religion, will hardly be led aside to another doctrine. The first sent remains in the Vessel. The Janizaries are the fiercest Turks, and they are taken from Christian Parents in their childh • od, and so trained up in the Mahometan Religion. The same fruits the Tree bears when it is young, it bears ever after. Chatechizing lays the foundation which Seducers cannot easily shake and pluck up. Ignorance is the mother of weakness, and lays us open to destructive changes.

2. Those who learn thoroughly the Chatechisme, will better understand Sermons, and they will be able easily to reduce whatever they hear from the Word, to the several heads of their Catechism. Mariners have their several side-winds, but they can bring every wind to verge towards one of their four chief winds. Principles of Religion take in the whole of Religion reductively, and Principles are dropt into youth by Catechism. One gravely observes, That Sermons without out preparatory Catechism and instruction are heard to little profit or advantage. Ignorant persons more usually hear a sound than a Sermon; like Paul's Companions in their journey to Damascus, who heard a voice, but no language, Acts 9. 6. Ignorant persons travel in the dark, and the light of a Sermon doth rather confound then convince them, they are still more in the dark, and the learning of Principles must bring them in their way.

3. Catechism is most accommodate to young and in judicious persons: A copious and vagrant form of instruction is not suitable to youth and Christians of the lower form: The Scholar learns not the Greek language at the first; it is the Accidens, not Homer, is fit for his first setting forth in the travels of literature: Every thing is good according to proportion: We eat not loaves but morsels; The Nurse chews the meat, and then puts it into the child's mouth: Inculcated principles must first be prepared for children and servants, and doctrines must run parallel with their capacities. The Sun riseth by degrees, nor doth it get up to its full height till its just time.

[unspec 4] We have interest: If we will have obedient children and faithful servants, let us pave their minds with Scripture-principles, and this will chase away that ignorance which is the spring of all irreligion. Every flower the beast feeds upon, we have the sweetness of it in the milk; and so all those truths we insinuate into the hearts of our Families in a chatechistical way, we shall find in their behaviours and carriages. The cost we bestow on our Gardens, we find in the spring, and then the sweetness of the Rose, and the beauty of the Tulip will court both our eye and our smell; so in this case, our pains in chatechizing will be found in the towardliness of the youth of our Families; and if we would turn our houses into little Churches, chatechism must be the chiefest consecration; But if we lay aside this successful duty, Ignorance will overgrow the Family, and then a cloud of ignorance will easily melt into a shower of profaneness; The darkness in the head will turn into darkness in the deed; and our Family may not love Christ, probably because they do not know him. Well instructed are usually well governed Families: Let something then of the Sabbath Evening be spent and employed in this influentiall Duty.

CHAP. XXXV. Singing of Psalms, is the Musique of a Sabbath.

THe Feast of a Sabbath is not to want the music of a Psalm: The Lord's day, saith the Psalmist, Psalm 118. 24. is a day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it: And Psalms are the echoes of joy, the hearts melody, the Saints tuning his Hallelujahs. When we sing Psalms, we seem to join issue with the 24 Elders mentioned in the Revelation, and with the Choir of Angels, the subject of whose Song is the Lord, and the Lamb who sit upon the Throne. David was not only the great King of Judah, but the sweet Singer of Israel; and he did not only compile his psalms for the Church, but himself did sing forth his Songs to the Lord; nay, the whole body of the people of Israel, though they cannot be Psalmists, they will be joyous in the praises of the Lord, 1 Chron. 13. 8. The wall of the City was not dedicated without singing, much more the worship of the Temple was not celebrated without the same method of praise & thanksgiving. Singing is the commanded mirth of Mountains, Isa. 44. 23. It is the Exultation of the Earth, Isa. 49. 13. It is the pleasant triumph of Saints, Isa. 51. 11. It is the Trophie of Victories, Exod. 15. 21. It is the Musique of Israel's Choir, 1 Chron. 16. 9. And then surely, it is the joyful melody of God's holy day. God's praise is much set forth by singing; and all varieties join in consort. The trees of the Wood, 1 Chron. 16. 33. The spheres of the Heavens, Isa. 44. 23. The Kingdoms of the Earth, Psalm 68. 32. The Saints in their greatest numbers, Psalm 149. 3. The Saints in their greatest straights, Isa. 26. 19. The Saints in their greatest flight, Isa. 42. 10, 11. The Saints in their greatest deliverances, Zeph. 3. 14, 15. The Saints in their greatest necessities, Isa. 52. 9. Isa. 54. 1. The Saints in their greatest plenties, Isa. 65. 14. Jer. 31. 12. How comely then doth singing divine praise to the divine Majesty befit the holy day of God? And we are to take notice, that Psalms are not only calculated for the public Congregation, but likewise for private families. There must be a Choir in our houses; Our children like the lesser birds must sing the praises of the Creator; Our servants must understand the chief service in singing forth thanksgivings to the Lord, and Governors of Families must be guides of the Chore, they must be Presidents in this complacential service. Tertullian tells us, That the Christians in the Primitive times had their meetings before day to sing to Jesus Christ; so sweet was this Duty to them, and reputed so necessary. Eusebius mentions some Hymns, which the Christians in the early times of the Gospel used to recite and sing forth: And Nepos compiled many of these divine Songs for the service of Dyonisius and his Brethren. Plinius secundus, though an Heathen, makes mention of Christians singing of Psalms to their great praise, in his Epistles to the Emperor Trajan. Gregory Nazianzen much presseth the singing of Psalms and Hymns upon Christians in their solemn days, for the avoidance of fidling Instruments, and of light and jocular songs. And as if psalms were not only the discharge of our duty, but the confutation of the errors of others, Chrysostom commanded Psalms to be sung in the night for the suppression of the Arian Heresy. Basil, as Ruffin attests, commanded the people to meet for the pouring out of their prayers, and singing of Psalms. The Eastern Church, from the time that the Sun of Righteousness arose in the East, did propagate the use of singing of Psalms and Hymns to successive Generations: Nor was the Western Church defective, in praising and practicing of this sweet and reviving Duty. Holy Ambrose so zealously pressed this duty of singing of Psalms, that he would not allow times of persecution, a sufficient reason to intercept it; But the Empress Justina raging against him, He commanded the common people to lie in the Church, and there sing Psalms and Hymns, according to the practice of the Oriental Christians, that they might not be sensible of any sorrow or tediousness: and this custom prevailed in aftertimes, and was scattered into other places: the Churches in other parts imitating this worthy practice. And Paulinus testifies, that the same excellent Ambrose brought Hymns and Psalms to be sung in public in the Churches of Milan, and this practice overspread almost the whole Western Church. Paulin. in Vit. Ambrose. And if you ask what Psalms were sung in those Early days of the Church, Augustine informeth us, The Psalms of David. Aug. confess. lib. 10. cap. 33. And Theodoret joins in the same assertion, Theodor. Hist. lib. 2. cap. 24. And these Oracles were warbled forth with a lively and sweet voice, that the truths which were sung did seem to get a new life by the tune, as the same Augustine avers. Chrysostom assures us, That the words of David's Psalms were the constant matter which was sung, that which did feed the voice, and the rejoicing of Christians in his time. Thus singing of Psalms was the usual and commendable practice of the golden times of the Church. And sing to the Lord, Psalm 47. 6. must be the command which must lead us up and down a Sabbath, and especially put an Higgaion Selah upon the close of it. Now for our more comfortable management of this heavenly service and spiritual recreation, we must consider,

Singing of Psalms hath excellent Presidents. That service is much sweetened, which is exemplified by the best Patterns: We have the best of Persons going before us in this way of holy delight. The Morning stars of the Church have sung together;

1. Christ himself, the Captain of our sanctification as well as our salvation, hath gone before us in this holy practice; he sang a Hymn with his Apostles, Mat. 26. 30. He sang with the Apostles, to show us, that Psalms are calculated not only for the public Congregations, but private Families: He sang not with the multitude, but with the Disciples: And Christ sang in the Evening, to evidence, that the Evening of his own day is the most fit season for this heavenly duty. And he sang immediately before he suffered, to seal this Ordinance with his blood. And if it be Queried what Hymn Christ sang? Learned Expositors are various in their opinions, and shoot so much at Rovers, that I shall not stay to take up their arrows. But it is not without remark, that Augustine gives us the full and rare description of an Hymn, which may help us in this case: Hymns, saith he, are the praises of God set forth in singing: If it be praise, and not of God, it is no hymn; And if it be praise of God, and these praises are not sung, it is not an Hymn; And therefore if it be an Hymn, it must have these three things; It must be praise, the praise of God, and that with a song. Christ then was versed in this holy practice: and so the Holy Ghost pens a Psalm for the Sabbath, viz. the 92 Psalm: that as there is the Lord's Prayer to guide us in that holy duty, so there i • the Lord's Psalm too, to excite and stir us up in this feraphical Service.

2. Godly Princes have glorified God in this duty, 2 Chro. 29. 30. David composes Psalms; and Hezekiah commands them to be sung; The chief Magistrate joins with the chief Musician: And he that takes the Scepter in his hand to govern the people, he likewise takes the Harp in his hand to sing the praises of the Lord, Psalm 98. 5. David, and Asaph, Hezekiah and the Levites, all join to sing forth the praises of God. There was among the Jews a Prefect of songs, as well as a Governor of the People.

3. The Holy Apostles, those bright luminaries of the Church, they have made this music in their Sphears, Acts 16. 25. Paul and Silas sang praises to God in their darkest Dungeon; though their feet were, their tongues were not in the stocks.

4. Eminent Fathers: Some have been cited already to give in their testimony to the praise and practice of this duty; I will only superadd one more, One most worthy among the worthiest, famous Basil, who thus discants upon singing of Psalms;

[unspec 2] Singing of Psalms hath not only excellent presidents, but enforcing reasons. The Psalmist saith, It is a good thing to sing unto our God, Psal. 47. 1. This duty being like a fruitful Cloud in the Summer season, which is not only our screen against the heat, but melts into a shower for the earths refreshing. It doth not only make a Canopy for us, to keep of the scorching Sun, but makes a draught for the ground to satisfy its parching thirst: So we do not only magnify God in singing of Psalms, but we solace ourselves, and put our own hearts into a spiritual delight. This duty is much to Edification. Our souls are built up as the walls of Jericho were pulled down, by loud sounding forth the praises of the Lord; while we praise God, we engage him, and as holy musicians, after we have drawn our tongues and hearts into the Choir, we shall have our reward. The Apostle advises the Ephesians to speak to one another in Psalms, Eph. 5. 19. The Christian at the same time carrying on a three-fold design.

1. He praises God.

2. He works divine truth upon his own heart.

3. He instructs those who join with him. And the tune sweetens, it doth not lose the Scripture Counsel we sing to God.

[unspec 1] Singing of Psalms doth very much advantage us; it can sweeten a Prison, Acts 16. 25. Paul and Silas by singing chase away the terror of the night, lighten the heaviness of the chain, enlighten the darkness of the dungeon. This divine Service can turn a Prison into a Paradise, a place of restraint into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God. Cyprian well advices us; Let not, saith he, an hour of grace want its joy; let serious conventions of God's people sound forth Psalms before the Lord.

[unspec 2] This holy service prepares us for sufferings. When Christ was ready to be offered up, then he sings an Hymn with his Disciples; Christ sups and sings, and then he sets forward towards the Cross. Joy in the Lord, whereof singing is only the rebound, arms us against the dint of suffering: He will scarce be sensible of approaching strokes, whose heart is taken up with God and Christ, and is in the midst of his Hallelujahs; no more then the three Children's feet were parched when they trod upon flames. Chrysostom informs us, That God appointed Psalms both for our gain and recreation: Thus being wrapped we shall scarce feel the thorn in the flesh.

[unspec 3] This soul reviving duty chases away fears. When the Church of Christ was much threatened by Tyrants, and those Wolves of the Evenings, whose Den was at Rome; Among others, Luther was the white, those Archers shot at; but in the midst of the greatest fears, Luther would call to sing the 46 ^th Psalm, which since is called Luther's Psalm; Thus did that incomparable man, as if singing of Psalms was the holy spell, to charm away all griefs and fears, the threats of persecutors might raise and procure. As perfect love, so inward joy casts out fear; the triumphing and the trembling of the heart at the same time, being inconsistent. Whilst we are beginning heaven in this work of Angels, as Basil calls singing of Psalms, we are got above the frowns and fears of the world.

[unspec 4] This heart rejoicing duty can make travels sweet and pleasant; it can shorten miles, and hasten stages, Num. 21. 17. A learned man observes, That singing holy songs; it is the music of the Temple, the pleasure of the feast, the delight of the Table; and it may be added, it is the recreation of the journey. The Children of Israel had a wilderness to travel through, but they had a God to converse with, and sweet ordinances to refresh themselves by, they made their journeys pleasurous; and the change of their stages, was only the variety of their delight; singing to the Lord strewed their way with roses.

[unspec 5] This soul-raising duty hath facilitated victories, 2 Chron. 20. 22. When the people of Israel began to sing, and to praise God, the Lord set ambushments against the Children of Ammon, &c. Thus singing of God's praises hath not only a melody in the Church, but a force and a power in the Camp. Swords sometimes are no sense against songs, when God and Christ are the matter of them.

[unspec 3] Singing of Psalms hath heavenly ends.

[unspec 1] By it we glorify God. Singing, it blazons God's Righteousness, Psal. 145. 7. By it we bless God's Name, Psal. 92. 1. By it we evidence God's love, Psal. 47. 6. By it we declare God's Majesty, Isa. 24. 14. By it we testify God's mercy, Psal. 89. 1. By it we publish God's Judgments, Psal. 101. 1. By it we proclaim God's power, Psal. 59. 16. This sacred duty David urgeth with more then ordinary fervency. And in this service we join confort with the whole Creation: The brute and inanimate Creatures praise the Creator by singing to him. The Mountains cannot pray, but they can sing, Isa. 44. 23. The Valleys do not meditate, but they sing, Psal. 65. 13. Singing is the harmony of the Forest, 1 Chron. 16. 33. Singing is the music of the Grove, Psal. 104. 12. Nay, the Heavens sing, Isa. 49. 13. And the Earth sings, Psal. 96. 1. Thus the Choir of all the Creatures bear a part in singing the praises of the Almighty.

[unspec 2] Singing of Psalms is an excellent means to draw out our Graces; and they indeed are the music which make the harmony, they are the spices which flow out with a pleasant, and an aromatical sent.

1. Singing draws out, and exercises our joy, Isa. 12. 2. The joy of the heart is only midwiv'd into the World by the songs of the lips.

2. Singing draws out our faith. The Heathens sing to the vain Idols, and we to our Jehovah. Sing praise, saith the Psalmist, to our God. Our spiritual songs keep time by the hand of faith. And so Tertullian observed; (as was suggested before) The Primitive Christians met before day to sing Hymns to Jesus Christ, their dear Redeemer.

3. Singing draws out our love, Isa. 5. 1. We sing most sweetly in the arms of our beloved. Christ sang with his Apostles, the Disciples of his bosom. Moses sings with the Children of Israel, the Brethren of his love. When we sing to Christ, we sing to him, who lies as a bundle of Myrrh between our breasts, Cant. 1. 13. It is love dilates the heart, it is love sweetens the voice, it is love makes the tongue an instrument of perpetual motion.

4. Singing draws out our thanksgiving, Isa. 38. 20. Singing is only gratitude put in meeter, and set in tune. The grateful person comes with his harp in his hand, as Jephthah 's Daughter did, to congratulate her returning and victorious Father, Judges 11. 34. Singing Psalms only becomes the righteous, who shall eternally praise God for the blessings of their salvation by Christ. We may sing musically, but not joyfully, not heartily, with unpardoned guilt upon our souls. A wicked man is a Parot in this duty, he is only Satan's Nightingale. The Prophet saith, Isa. 65. 14. The Servants of God shall sing for joy of heart. Wicked men can have no peace, Isa. 57. 21. and therefore no joy. A grave Divine well observes, That praise and psalms well become the Saints, who sing with affection, reverence and understanding; otherwise this duty is as a costly garment, which is rich and beautiful in itself, but it fits not the person who is to wear it.

[unspec 3] Singing of Psalms doth admirably cheer and exhilerate the soul. The Apostle speaks, Eph. 5. 19. Of singing Psalms and Hymns, and making melody in our hearts: this duty is the sweet shout of the soul, the jubilie of the inward man, a spiritual exultation, the triumphal gladness of a gracious heart, a softer rapture. We may say of this Service, as Tremellius doth of David's harp; That by the music of it, the storms of Saul's spirit were laid, and he was composed and serene. This Service can calm a perturbed and discomposed spirit. Augustine confesseth, That oftentimes for joy he wept in the Church to hear the melody of the people's singing. And Beza acknowledges, That at his first entrance into the Congregation, hearing them sing the 91st Psalm, by the singing thereof he felt himself exceedingly comforted, and he did ever since bear the sense of it dearly engraven on his heart. Dr. Bound observes, Psalms are most convenient for the Sabbath, for that is a time of joy, and there is no joy comparable to that we have in Christ Jesus, who fills our hearts with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Indeed singing of Psalms it reveals and confines our joy, it is the smile, and the gracious smile of the soul. The Apostle James adviseth us to turn our mirth into the right channel, If we be merry let us sing Psalms, Jam. 5. 13. Our mirth should be as the music of the Sphears, pure and coelestial; As the waters of a spring, and not as the waters of a pond, which easily putrifieth. Our joy then flows, and breaks out in this blessed duty of singing Psalms, which is the only vent of inward complacency, the heart being the chief music-room of a Saint.

In the singing of Psalms we begin the service of heaven, singing is the triumph of glory. In heaven we read of the song of the Lamb, the song of Moses, Rev. 15. 3. All varieties in the Palace of the great King sing songs to the Lord, and to the Lamb who sits on the throne, Rev. 5. 9, 12, 13. The twenty four Elders sing a new song, as if they would out-vy and double the tribes of Israel, as in their number, so in their praises to the God of Israel, Rev. 5. 9. The Angels lift up their voice to sing the Psalms of heaven, Rev. 5. 11. Those glorious spirits though they have no tongues, yet they have voices to celebrate the praises of the Divine Majesty. The Harpers likewise have a new song, Rev. 14. 3. and join issue in the same harmony, to evidence that heaven is a place of joy and triumph. Now as no Ordinance better resembles the company of heaven, then that of the Lord's Supper, where the Saints meet to feast with, and on Christ: So no Ordinance better resembles the harmony of heaven, then the singing of Psalms, when the Saints join in the praise of their Redeemer. It is not without a Selah, a note of observation, that the Apostle is so copious in setting down, the several ways of the Saints praising God, viz. In Psalms, and Hymns, and spiritual Songs, Col. 3. 16. Is it not to prefigure that plenty and joy which is reserved for them, when they shall always join in consort with the music of the Bride-chamber? David singing with his harp here looks not so like the King of the Old, as a Citizen of the New Jerusalem.

[unspec 4] Singing of Psalms must be managed with prudential cautions.

[unspec 1] In this heavenly duty the heart must be president of the Choir. He plays the hypocrite who bids his harp awake when his heart is asleep. Affection must be loudest in every Psalm. The Apostle saith, That he will sing with the spirit, 1 Cor. 14. 15. David tells us, His heart was ready, his heart was ready to sing and give praise, Psal. 57. 7, 8. Psal. 108. 1. The Virgin Mary sings her magnificat with her heart, Luke 1. 46, 47. Bernard in a Tract of his tells us, When we sing Psalms, let us take heed that we have the same thing in our mind which we warble forth with our tongue; and that our song and our tongue run not several ways. Spiritual songs must not be as ic •• les which drop from the eves of our mouths, but as sparks which fly from the hearths of our souls. If there be only the calves of our lips, it so much resembles a carnal and Jewish sacrifice. Jerome tells us, We must not act as players, who stretch their throats and accomodate their tongues to the matter in hand; but when we sing Psalms, we must act as Saints, praising God, not only with our voice, but with our hearts. A sweet voice pleaseth men most, but a melting heart pleaseth God most. Thou studiest cadencies and to run divisions, saith Bernard, Study to break thy will, and to keep under thy corrupt affections, and do not so much affect a consonancy of voice, as conformity of manners. It is not a quavering voice, but a trembling spirit, Isa. 66. 2. Augustine complains sadly of some in his time, who minded more the tune, then the truth which was sung, more the manner how, then the matter what, and this was a great offense to him.

[unspec 2] We must sing with grace in our hearts, Col. 3. 16. Viz. Either as some expound it with gratitude and thankfulness, for the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 grace, is sometimes so taken, 1 Cor. 15. 57. And indeed thankfulness is the Selah of this duty, that which puts an accent upon the music and sweetness of the voice; we sing the thanksgivings of the Lord. In times of prosperity, when God crowns us with his loving kindnesses, Psal. 103. 4. We are then stirred up to sing forth the praises of God, and every part of man makes up the Consort; the eye looks up with joy, the tongue sets the tune, the hand claps with triumph, Psal. 47. 1. The heart is the Organist which sets all the rest on going; that bosom instrument begins the songs of praise.

Secondly, Bishop Davenant expounds with grace, viz. with gracefulness, with a graceful dexterity, which brings both profit and pleasure to the hearers. When we sing Psalms, we must sing seriously and solemnly, not lightly or sensually to gratify a curious ear, or a wanton spirit. Psalms they are not the Comedies of Venus, or the jocular celebrations of a wanton Adonis, but they are the spiritual ebullitions and breakings forth of a composed soul to the holy and incomprehensible Jehovah. Therefore David will sing a new song to the Lord, Psal. 96. 1. (i. e.) in the Hebrew dialect, a most excellent song, a song tuned with suavity, composed with piety, and warbled forth with real sincerity.

Thirdly, This phrase with grace may most properly signify, the acting of grace in that heavenly duty. Not only our heart, but God's spirit must breath in this service, in it we must act our joy, our confidence, our delight in the Lord. Singing is the triumph of a gracious soul, his unconstrained exultation, which is not penned up in the mind by meditation, nor confined to the ear in attention, nor yet chained to the tongue in prayer and supplication, but flies abroad in a more solemn Ovation, praising him who causeth him to triumph in Christ, as the Apostle speaks, 2 Cor. 2. 14. In singing of Psalms the gracious heart takes wing, and mounts up to God to join with the celestial Choir.

[unspec 3] We must sing with understanding: We must not be guided by the tune, but the words of the Psalm; and must not so much mind the melody, as the matter: we must consider what we sing, as well as how we sing. The tune may affect the fancy, but it is the matter affects the heart. David in the Old Testament, Psal. 47. 7. And the Apostle in the New, 1 Cor. 14. 15. call for understanding in singing, otherwise we make a noise, but we do not sing a spiritual song; and so this duty would be more the work of the Chorister, then the Christian; and we should be more delighted with an Anthem of the Musicians making, then with a Psalm of the spirits enditing. We must therefore sing wisely, that not only our own hearts may be affected, but those who hear us. Alapide observes, that the word understanding mentioned by the Apostle, 1 Cor. 14. 15. it is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in the Hebrew, which signifies profound judgment, and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in the Septuagint, which signifies the acuteness of understanding, the sharpness of it, the mind of the understanding, if there be anymore spiritual, and freed from the body. And thus we must sing our Psalms and spiritual songs. A learned man observes, We must relish what we sing. Now the understanding must lead the way to the taste and the gust. Let me superadd one thing more. The Apostle in the forementioned place, 1 Cor. 14. 15. saith, He will pray with the spirit, and with understanding; he will sing with the spirit, and with understanding: So then we must sing, as we must pray. Now the most rude and ignorant Petitioners will understand what they pray, rather then they will Petition in the dark, they will confine themselves to a form, or to the Lord's prayer. None so ignorant as not to understand what they ask. Unknown prayers are the soloecism of Religion, they are only a vain muttering, a troublesome noise; Children know what to ask of their Parents, and their minority doth not speak so much ignorance, as to wrap up their requests in a cloud, that they cannot understand their meaning. It is well observed by a learned man, That the prayers of the Papists in an unknown tongue, are not so much a supplication as a murmur. Now ignorance in singing falls under the same condemnation with ignorance in praying, and is as great a soloecism; when we understand not what we sing, it speaks the harshness of the voice, the hardness of the heart, and the impertinency of the service.

[unspec 4] We must sing to the Lord: In singing of Psalms the direct intention of our minds must be to God. And we must be affected as the matter of the Psalm is, and our present condition doth occasion. Singing is part of divine worship, a piece of Gospel service. The Apostles counsel is, That in singing we should make melody in our hearts to the Lord, Eph. 5. 19. And least we should omit this circumstance, which is the substance of the whole duty, the Apostle repeats his counsel, Col. 3. 16. and adviseth us to sing with grace in our hearts to the Lord. A learned man observes, That the right singing of Psalms is an evidence of the holy spirit inhabiting the heart, and a spirit of joy breathing in the Saints. And if the spirit of the Lord be in us, he will be aimed at by us in all our duties. The spirit will mount service upwards, will lift up the soul in prayer, Psal. 25. 1. Isa. 37. 4. will lift up the hands in request, Psal. 28. 2. will lift up the head with joy, Psal. 110. 7. And will lift up the voice to God in singing. David saith, Psal. 111. 1. I will praise the Lord with my whole heart. Deborah and Barak sing their triumphal song to the Lord, Judge 5. 3. And the Psalmist calls the songs of Zion, the songs of the Lord, Psal. 137. 3, 4. Singing of Psalms properly is nothing else but the lifting up the voice, and the heart to God. One gravely tells us, Our singings must not serve our pleasure, our wantonness, our gain, but our Savior, our Christ, our God. In this heavenly music we must study, not so much to keep time, that we do not spoil the Consort, as to keep the heart close to God, that we do not spoil the Duty. The heathens celebrate their false gods, Neptune, Mars, Jupiter, &c. with Songs and Hymns, and think that by this service and worship they proclaim their greatness and Divinity: And shall not we much more celebrate the praises of God and Christ, who hath loved us, and given himself for us, Gal. 2. 20. in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual songs? shall not God have the sweetness of our voice, the melody of our hearts, the songs of our lips, nay the music of our holy lives; that all that is within us and without us too, may praise his holy and glorious name?

And thus at last, there is laid before us a Scheme of Sabbath observation, and we are instructed how to keep the Lord's day according to the Lord's will; which doing, we shall lie down at night with safety and satisfaction. A well spent Sabbath will warm our bed at night, will strew our bed with roses, will sent it with perfumes, nay strew it with pearls, and we may joyfully expect a full crop of blessings the subsequent week; nay, our future life may be prospered with the gifts of the right hand and the left, and drenched with the effusions of the upper and the nether springs.

CHAP. XXXVI. Some supplemental Directions for the better observation of the Lord's day.

BY way of Addition and Appendix some other particulars may be annexed and suggested for the furtherance of this blessed service. Indeed much of Religion is summed up in the care of God's Sabbath, and we should be as chary and tender of this trust, viz. The Lord's day, as Jacob was of Benjamin, in which Child his life was bound up. The profane person wastes this golden talent, the formalist wraps it up in a Napkin, but the sedulous Saint puts it out to great advantage, and will give up his account with joy. Bishop White tells us, The keeping holy of the Lord's day (and why then should he plead so much for recreations on that holy day.) it is a work of piety, a Nursery of Religion and Virtue, a means of sowing the seeds of grace, and of planting faith and saving knowledge and godliness in the people's minds: And our blessed Lord and Savior being duly and religiously served and worshiped upon his own holy day, imparteth heavenly and temporal benedictions. Thus this learned man seems to lay the whole weight of Religion, and to entail the whole reward of godliness upon a due observance of God's blessed Sabbath: And let this ever be the praise of his learning. Undoubtedly Religion and the Sabbath are twins, which live and die together: And the piety of the Sabbath is the prosperity of the Nation. But let us hasten to some further directions for the more sweet and full discharge of Sabbath piety.

[Dir. 1] We must keep Sabbaths not only personally, but domestically, not only by our selves, but by our families. It is not enough for thee to pray, but thy family must join in prayer. Abraham caused his family to serve God, which gave him no small interest in the love and heart of God. Joshuas holy resolution was, That he and his house would serve the Lord. On a Sabbath every house should be a lesser Temple, where all should meet to worship. Everyone must keep this holy day in order: Superiors must be careful that inferiors observe it. Can a Master of a family be said to keep a Sabbath, when he is praying, and his servant is sinning, his Child is gadding, his Wife is visiting? In Heaven where there is an everlasting Sabbath kept, there the whole Host is praising God; and the Inhabitants of Heaven are called a Family by the Apostle, Eph. 3. 15. Our services must be the music of a Consort, not of a single Instrument.

[unspec 1] In the 4th. Commandment, Servants are commanded the sanctification of the Sabbath, as well as Masters, and Children as well as Parents. This blessed Command takes in the whole Family, within its circuit: And learned men observe, the necessity of obedience doth not excuse the servant from observing this day, only the necessity of compulsion: Servants must not work this day by command, but only by overpowering force and violence, as the Israelites did in their Egyptian bondage.

[unspec 2] In matters of Religion, there is no difference between bond, or free, male, or female, Gal. 3. 28. Everyone hath a soul to look after, an account to give, a Christ to pursue, a Heaven to take by force, Mat. 11. 12. There dwelleth a piece of immortality in the bosom of the meanest servant: And that Child which hath no portion to receive, hath a Christ to ensure, which is the work of this holy day. Museulus observes, The common Law for the keeping of the Sabbath equally reacheth all, and is a common bond to oblige all; and in this it is like the Law-giver, It is no respecter of persons, Acts 10. 34. nor must the power of Superiors prejudice Religion. A Governor of a Family cannot lawfully call off his Children, or Servants from religious observations, and so from the duties of a Sabbath: and Religion is as much the interest of the meanest Servant, as of the greatest Masters, of the most inferior Peasant, as of the most noble Prince: Nay, the lower our condition is here, the more strictly we should keep the Sabbath, that we may better our estate to come, in that place and condition where all civil distinctions will be taken away. The greatest Magistrate is called to be a nursing Father of the Church of God, Isa. 49. 23. and therefore herein must he look that the Church be fed, and not delivered over to dry Nurses. They are God's Ordinance, and their power is of God, for of themselves they can do nothing, Joh. 19. 11. And therefore they must honor God, & uphold his Ordinances, 1 Sam. 2. 30. They must give to God the things which are God's, Mat. 22. 21. and must employ their Power and Authority to the service and glory of Christ: Wherefore seeing Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath, Mark 2. 27. Mat. 12. 8. They must take especial care to serve the Lord in fear and trembling, and remember to keep the Christian Sabbath; because the Kingdom is the Lord's and his Christ's, who is King of Kings, and Lord of Lord's, Revel. 11. 15. The duty of Magistrates is,

1. To repress the profaning of the Sabbath, and to use all means for the accomplishment of that worthy and glorious design. Namely,

• 1. To forbid, Nehem. 13. 15.
• 2. To reprove, Nehem. 13. 17, 18.
• 3. To threaten, Nehem. 13. 21.
• 4. To hinder, Nehem. 13. 19, 22. And,
• 5. To punish the profaning of God's holy day, Nehem. 13. 20.

Secondly, To command. and to compel the Lord's day to be sanctified, 2 Chron. 34. 33. And

Thirdly, To sanctify it himself, his Children, his Court, his Attendants, both privately, Psalm 5. 7. Acts 10. 1, 2. and also publicly, Ezek. 46. 2, 4. 2 Kings 11. 5, 7, 9. The duties of private and public sanctifying the Lord's day, tie and bind the Prince and other Magistrates, no less then the meanest of the Subjects, and the most pedantique persons: And, where the Prince neglects the strict, and holy observation of God's blessed day, this sin will make his Crown shake, and his Scepter tremble, and rip up his most stately Palaces, to let in divine wrath and displeasure. It was the profanation of the Sabbath, which hasten'd and ascertained Hezekiah's doom, as may be clearly observed, Jer. 17. 27. If ye will not hearken to me to hallow my Sabbath, I will kindle a fire in the gates of Jerusalem, and it shall devour the Palaces thereof, and it shall not be quenched. And lesser Governors, every Housholder over his family, who may be called an inferior Magistrate, in regard of his Authority in the little province of his family; it is his duty to sanctify the Sabbath himself, he must keep it with all care and diligence, and move in the circuit of Sabbath duties as a star in its Orb: And he must command and compel his family thereunto, that they may effectually practice it, as well as himself, and this he must do in his proportion as Magistrate in his own Household. Surely, if Kings in the midst of all their glittering attendance, their courtly delicacies, numerous addresses, arduous affairs, must not forget to keep holy the Sabbath day, both themselves, and all their bespangled family, much more must the private Governors of families, who lie not so open to tempting avocations, nor are dazzled with such courtly appearances, take care that themselves and families serve the Lord, on his own holy and blessed day.

[unspec 4] The Edicts of State, and constitutions of the Church, like the two springs of Jor & Dan, have both met in a full stream to carry on this service against all resistance. Ludovicus Pius the son of Charles the Great, put forth this Decree: That it is a necessary duty, that in the first place Priests, and then Kings and Princes, and all faithful persons, do most devoutly exhibit due observation to this holy day. This serious Prince enacts the observation of the Sabbath for all: that everyone being fettered by a Law, might not loosely pass over this heavenly day. And as the Edicts of Princes, enforce the general observation of the Sabbath, high as well as low, an both equally, so the Constitutions of the Church. The Council of Paris decreed, that all should keep the Lord's day, Governors, Kings, Princes, Priests, and all faithful persons should procure it to be kept, and that no man pres • me to make merchandise to do his pleasure, or any country work, but that they with all endea • ours of soul do attend to heavenly praises, &c. Ambrose, in his time complained of some Masters, who would call away their servants to hunting, when they were going to Church on the Lord's day, and so by their own sinning drew others into the snare, not remembering they should be guilty of their servants sin, and of the hazard of their immortal souls. And a learned man of our own Nation observes: that in those Constitutions commonly called Apostolical, it was expressly commanded, That servants should be at leisure on the Lord's day for attendance upon the worship of God, and for learning of Religion. Those early days of the Gospel commanded all, everyone to mind the great work of Religion, and to inure themselves to divine Knowledge. Our own Church is not the least in providing, that all persons observe the holy Sabbath. So in King Edwards time, the express words of the Homily are, Sithence which time, (the time of our Savior's Resurrection) God's people in all ages have always without gainsaying used to come together upon the Sunday, to celebrate and honor the Lord's blessed Name, and carefully to keep that day in holy Rest, both Man, and Woman, Child, and Servant, and Stranger, &c. And so in King James his time, it was enacted as one of the Canons of our Church, among other things, That Parents and Masters of Families should instruct their children and servants in the fear and nurture of the Lord, especially on the Lord's day. Thus the care of all places where Christianity hath been professed, and in all ages which savoured anything of Religion, hath enjoined the general observation of the Lord's day; and the meanest Servant hath come within the compass of Royal Edicts, and sacred constitutions, as well as the most considerable Eminent Superior.

[unspec 5] The bowels of Parents might enforce this duty. Can a tender Father, or an affectionate Mother see their Children trifling away the time of a Sabbath, slighting away the Ordinances of a Sabbath, and neglecting the private duties of a Sabbath, and not be filled with fear and amazement? How shall the fruit of their loins stand before him, who gave the Commandment for the Sabbath in the midst of a flaming Mountain, Exod. 19. 18. and be accountable to him who is the Lord of the Sabbath, Mark 2. 28. and who will judge the secrets of all men according to the Gospel? Rom. 2. 16. Can Parents see their children grieve the spirit, who descended most gloriously on the Apostles upon the Lord's day, Acts 2. 3. and break that Commandment which is one of God's Ten Words, Deut. 10. 4. Nay, pollute that day which is founded on Christ's salvifical Resurrection, and not be surprised with dread and consternation? I may expostulate with such, as once the Church did with the Lord, where is the soundings of their bowels? Parents love their Children, so far as they love their better part; it is considerable, death will strip them of all the fruits of their care, excepting that which they have taken for their souls. Not only divine command, Exod. 20. 10. but natural affection leads us to the discharge of this duty, (viz.) To see our Family keep holy the Sabbath day. What softness and tenderness did Christ show to his family! how sweetly did he instruct them! Mark 4. 11, 12, 13, 14, &c. How pathetically did he pray for them! Joh. 17. 9, 11, 15, 17, 20, 21, 24. How carefully did he lay up for them a divine and glorious inheritance! Luke 22. 29, 30. And at last how willingly did he shed his blood for them, and he was straightened till he drank up his bitter cup for them! Luke 12. 50. Let us write after this Copy, and show our love to our family, as our dear Jesus did to his; and then we show our love to them, when we see, they show their love to God, in a careful keeping of his holy day.

[unspec 6] The excellency of the Sabbath should draw the whole family to an observation of it. The Lord's day is the Fort-royal of Religion, let us all stand in our places to observe it, and so we shall preserve it; there are many who lay seige to it, to race and demolish it: Some set their wits on work to oppose the Doctrinal part of it; Some set their wills on work to oppose the Practical part of it. Now let us countermine these miscreant endeavors:

1. By being much in prayer, that the Lord of the Sabbath would perpetually preserve his own ordinance.

2. By being much in practice; that we and our houses serve the Lord on his own blessed day. Standing and serious sanctity, if it cannot convince men to mind their duty, it will engage God to secure his own institution. The Jews never lost the Sabbath, until they rejected Christ, who is the Lord of it; they had the Oracles of God, Rom. 3. 2. till they repudiated the Son of God. In the Old Testament, they went to worship God with their Flocks and their Herds with them, Hos. 5. 6. In the New Testament, let us take our Children and our Servants with us in the worship of God; Let them be with us in the public, let them be with us in private duties of God's holy day, so we shall ensconce our privileges: And every pious family shall be as a Macedonian pbalanx to secure the Sabbath from violation and subversion. Sin and neglect makes the forfeiture of spiritual blessings; a careless contempt of the Word, brings a famine of it, Amos 8. 11. And the slight observance of God's day exposeth it to reproach; So that often, the Wolves of the Forest, violent men, pursue it with persecution; and the little Foxes, closer Heretics infest it with their contagion. Let us therefore with Moses, resolve, We will go with our Young and with our Old, with our Sons and with our Daughters, for we must hold a feast unto the Lord, Exod. 10. 9. Chemnitz observes, That to the sactification of the Lord's day, besides public duties, there is work to be done in families, as instructing of servants, rehearsal of Sermons, reading Scriptures, counseling and quickening such who are under our care, that all may keep God's holy day. Ah! let not us and our families lose our Sabbaths, because we did no better keep them, not forgeting that usually Children are wrapped up in a common destruction, Luke 19. 44. And so much the more earnestly should we endeavor to fold them up in a common salvation, Jude v. 3.

[unspec 7] It well becomes the wisdom of the Governors of Families to see the Sabbath carefully observed. Superiors must not leave the keeping of the Sabbath, as a thing indifferent to the discretion of the family; they must entreat them, they must provoke them, they must compel them. The Kings Command was to compel the guest • to come in, Luke 14. 23. The sick child if he will not take his physic with a smile, he must do it with a • od, the child must not die and miscarry. The ease of the flesh, the strength of corruption, the insinuating temptations of Satan will all decry Sabbath observation; and therefore here indulgence is the greatest injury, and mildness is the sorest cruelty to the precious soul. Thy family had better endure sharp reproofs, then scorching flames; As Mr. Shepherd used to tell his weeping Audito • rs, It was better crying here then in Hell. As David said of God's House, Psal. 69. 9. Psal. 119. 139. so Governors of families should say of God's day, the zeal of it hath eaten them up. Thy Children and Servants must keep the Sabbath holy; there is an absolute necessity of it; and woe to the Governors of families, if through their neglect, the day of God is slightly over-past. Nehemiah caused the Sabbath to be observed, not so much by mild persuasions, as peremptory command, nay, sharp and acute threatenings, Nehem. 13. 17, 19, 20. And so this good man, espoused the Magistrate to the Saint. Let every Master of a family go and do so likewise. And as Superiors must strictly enjoin, so Inferiors must heartily embrace Sabbath observation. Children must inquire of their Parents, Exod. 13. 14. And Servants must joyfully obey their Masters in all holy and spiritual commands, Col. 3. 22. They must spend frugally the time of a Sabbath, solemnize seriously the ordinances of a Sabbath, perform readily the services of a Sabbath, and as lesser stars shine in the holy and exemplary observation of the Sabbath.

[unspec 8] That swaying principle of interest should prompt Governors to this duty;

1. Interest, if they regard their present peace. Slight Sabbaths will make slothful Servants, and stubborn Children. When we do not fasten the family to the holy duties of a Sabbath, we leave them to the bias of their own corruptions, which will easily carry them to everything inconvenient. How many Servants in the great City of the Nation, for want of care and zeal in their Masters, to keep them to holy duties on God's holy day, Court their Harlots, take off their Cups, waste their Masters substance, and hazard their own in mortal souls, and as Belteshazzar, drink in the Vessels of the Temple with their Courtezans, and their Concubines? Many by these courses anticipate their own ruin, and in reference to their days in the world, for an hundred write down fifty, cast themselves untimely away, mortgage their future hopes, and blast their present parts, and all from their riots on God's holy day. On the contrary, the Family which serves God most on the Sabbath will serve the Governor best in the week. The awe of a Sabbath is not easily worn off; as colors laid in Oil, are not washed off with every drop. A well spent Sabbath is an Ark in the house, which sheds a prosperity on all the affairs of it; it makes everyone a Joseph, who carries increase and addition in his very name, and concerning whom it was prophesied, He should be a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a wall, whose branches run over the wall. This holy care of sanctifying Sabbaths in, & with our families, would cause the dews of heavenly benediction, not only to fall upon the head, and the beard of the Governors, but the skirts also, the inferior branches of the family.

2. It is the interest of Governors to see their families keep the Sabbath holy, as they will give up their account with joy. As the Minister must be responsible for the souls of his people committed to his charge, Heb. 13. 17. so the Master for his Family: At God's Bar thou shalt not say, am I my Families keeper? In the time of the worlds infancy, the Governor of the Family was the only Magistrate, he was both Master and Pastor; his house-hold was his teritory, and dominion, and he swayed his Scepter in exercising his power over it. Abraham was a Prince and a Prophet in his own house; and he acted like a Prince, in commanding his family to keep the way of the Lord, Gen. 18. 19. But still we are accountable for those who are subordinate to us; and if we must be accountable for words, as transient breath, Mat. 12. 36. much more for Children, the darlings of our bosoms, and for Servants the objects of care, that living trust committed to us. How often do Parents put their Children into the Masters hand, as Jacob did Benjamin into the hands of his Brethren, Gen. 43. 14. with weeping eyes, with aking hearts, with ardent prayers, and cry out, if They are bereaved, they are bereaved; and shall the negligence of Masters strike these trembling Parents under the fifth rib, because they did not see their servants strictly observe God's holy day, but left them to the vanity of their minds, which gradually habituated them in evil, and paved their way to destruction? Surely the grief of these disappointed Parents, shall no more vie with the doom of the regardless Masters, then the smart of a rod can compare with the burning of a Scorpion. But Masters of families should do well beforehand to cast up their account, and this would be a spur to their care and sedulity on God's holy day.

[unspec 9] That lovely principle of justice and equity might command this service. If we find not our family employed in holy work on God's holy day, what do we more for them, then we do for our beasts? We give them rest from labor. Shall the care of a soul, which endures to eternity, more valuable then a world, no more sway with us, then the care of a beast which perisheth? The Cattle shall not travel, and the Servants shall not work upon God's day, and so they shall be both equally indulged with the same privilege; Is this suitable to the spirit of the Gospel? Paul endures the pangs of travel, Gal. 4. 19. Christ endures the pangs of death, Luke 23. 46. and thou shalt not endure a little trouble and a little care, not one act of zeal, or one drop of sweat in holy diligence for precious and never dying souls? Throw off the mantle of Samuel, if thou and thy house will not serve the God of Samuel on his own day. And moreover it is a great provocation, that our Servants must serve us in the week, and we take no care that they serve God on the Sabbath. Our interest must be on the Anvel, though the interest of Christ and Religion be laid aside; a poor worm must be more sedulously served and observed, then the infinite Jehovah: May not that exclamation be here seasonable, Hear O Heavens, and give ear O Earth, Isa. 1. 2. The Shop must not be neglected, though the soul be: is our present gain to run parallel with our servants future Crown? Must servants be more mindful of our work, then their own everlasting weal? Indeed what would it profit us, if we should gain the whole world, and our poor servants lose their immortal souls, will our profit compensate their loss? Surely this is brutishly to use our servants, and well befits the profession of a Demas, who hath forsaken the Gospel, and embraced the present world, 2 Tim. 4. 10. But let us not beguile ourselves, saith heavenly Greenham, for the blood of servants souls will be required at Masters hands, who being lordly and tyrannical, make their servants either equal to their beasts, or worse then their beasts, caring for nothing but the world, never thinking of Hell, whereunto they are hastening.

[Dir. 2] We must endeavor to keep God's day uniformly and harmoniously: Our families must be on the Lord's day, as the building of Solomon's Temple, where no Axe or Hammar was heard, no discord, or division. It is very deplorable to consider, what confusions are in many families; so many persons, so many opinions; the Master is of one Church, the Wife of another, the Child of a third, and may be the Servant of a fourth: the Master possibly will sing Psalms, the Child or the Servant happily cannot join in that heavenly duty: Are not these families too like the speckled bird the Prophet speaks of, Jer. 12. 9. Or like the spotted Leopard, Jer. 13. 23. too like Josephs party-coloured coat, which afterwards was dipt in blood, Gen. 37. 31. The Apostle assures us, that God is a God of Order, and not of Confusion, 1 Cor. 14. 33. Christ's coat was not torn, though lots was cast for it. It was the praise of the Primitive Church, They did serve God with one accord, Acts 2. 46. the same pulse beat in all, the same spirit acted them all, the same love united and espoused them all, the same service employed them all. Divided Families, like divided Kingdoms, cannot stand. The four and twenty Elders in heaven sung the same song, Rev. 4. 11. The Angels all utter the same triumphal words, Rev. 5. 8, 9, 11, 12. It is a blessed and glorious promise, That we shall call upon the name of the Lord, and serve him with one consent, Zeph. 3. 9. How pathetically doth the Apostle press unity, Eph. 4. 3, 4, 5, 6. A consort of Musicians play not several tunes, but one and the same lesson. Concord in service is the Music of a family, when we all sing the same Psalm, all pray the same prayer, fix our thoughts on the same truths, hear the same Sermon, and variety is over-ruled by unity. Surely divisions are the wounds and jars of a family, and such contrarieties are the flashing emblems of novelty, and sad Prognostics of fatal scepticism. Let us then study that ourselves and families may serve the Lord on his own day, with one voice, with one shoulder, with one lip; and with one heart. United stars make a constellation: When stars do fight, it presages great slaughter, and is no less then miraculous.

[Dir. 3] We must act the services of the Sabbath freely and cheerfully. Our services must be the fruit of love, not the effect of force. Holy delight must draw us to the Sanctuary, not a pressing and rigorous conscience. God loves a cheerful giver, and a cheerful worshipper. It was David's joy to go with the multitude, Psal. 42. 4. Our service on a Sabbath must not be as wine squeezed from the grape, but as water flowing from the fountain. Our service must be the service of children, not the homage of slaves. In this we must imitate the Angels, who have their wings to fly upon every commanded service. It was a brand put upon the people of Israel, they were weary of his Sabbaths, Amos 8. 9. The Sanctuary must be our Paradise, not our Purgatory. In the time of the Law, those who would offer to the Lord, they must do it with a willing heart, Exo. 35. 5. Rivet well observs, Involuntary obedience deserves not the name, much less the reward of obedience. Our duties on the Sabbath must be lively and vigorous. The true Mother cries, the living child is mine, 1 Kings 3. 22. So God saith, the living Sabbath is mine. It is a character of God's people, that they are a willing people, Psal. 110. 3. The Hebrew reads it, a people of willingness, to show how exceedingly willing we should be in the day of the Lord's power, which is principally his own holy day. It is usually the sigh of a poor Saint, Lord, I would run faster, but my corrupt heart hampers me. Sabbaths should be our element, not our burden. David made it his only request, that he might spend his whole life in the Temple, Psal. 27. 4. Every thing in an Ordinance might flush our joy, and fledge our desires.

1. The superscription it bears; it hath the stamp of Christ upon it. Preaching is the preaching of Christ; the Sacrament is the Supper of Christ. Now the name Jesus should be like Caesar his (Quirites) it should put new life into the Saint.

2. The advantage it brings. It brings spiritual Life, Faith, Conversion. Ordinances bring spiritual lading to the soul. Lydia was converted by the preaching of Paul.

3. The end it designs, which is the everlasting good of the soul. We hear that we may be holy, we receive that we may be hearty, we pray that we may be happy. Eternal life is the stage of all Ordinances, the center where the lines of every Ordinance meets: And the Gospel is generally called the Gospel of life and salvation, 2 Cor. 2. 16. Eph. 1. 13. Let us a little glance at the pleasing gradation: Faith comes by hearing, Justification by Faith, and Justification ushers in holiness here, and future glory and happiness. Thus every Ordinance of a Sabbath may accent our dedelight, and put an emphasis upon our joy. We must then keep our Sabbaths in holy joys, in heavenly satisfactions, and the Bride-chamber here below must be in our own bosoms. On this day our feasting must be converse with God, our meat and drink must be to do our fathers will, and to do his will must be our meat and drink, Jobn 4. 24. On this day we must be filled with the spirit, which is better then new wine. The day of God is prophetically called a day of joy, Psal. 118. 24. This day literally is a day of delight, it is the day on which Christ sprang from the grave, and gave a new life to the world. This day prefiguratively is a day of rich consolation, for it prefigures an eternal Sabbatism with the Lord, Heb. 4. 9. It adumbrates that glorious state, when we shall enter into our Masters joy, Mat. 25. 21. Our services then on the Lord's day must be enlivened with activity, and sweetened with alacrity.

[Dir. 4] Our services on God's day must be solemn and serious. Though they must not be without joy, yet they must be without lightness; we may be complacential, but we may not be formal. Delight well becomes a Sabbath, but laughter doth not. We must consider we have Sabbaths to carry on soul work, which is an interest of the greatest importance. Now, if ever, this is the Sabbaths Motto, This is our moment on which eternity depends. Though there be no vacation for sin, yet the Sabbath is the Term-time for the soul, the Sabbath is the Mart, the Staple, the Market for the soul; and not to improve this opportunity judiciously, savingly, spiritually, with the greatest intent of mind, with the greatest severity of observance, with the greatest inclinations and workings of spirit, is the highest vanity and profaneness. A slight vain spirit on a Sabbath, is like tears and sighs at a Nuptial Feast, or laughter and jocularity in the house of mourning. On the Lord's day we must pray as for our souls, hear as for eternity, and improve Ordinances as those who are to deal with an infinite God in Ordinances. What we do, we must do with all our might, as the Wiseman speaks, Eccles. 9. 10. Now especially we must run the race which is set before us, and strive to enter in at the strait gate, & storm heaven that we may take it by force. Sweat in our callings is our policy, but sweat and labor in holy duties is our wisdom. In the duties of the Sabbath especially we wrestle for a prize, we seek for life, as those persons who fetched water for David from Bethlehem with hazard and invincible magnanimity. Frozen duties will speak cold answers; and a light, dead, careless frame of spirit, only teaches God to withdraw his presence from our seeming approaches. We must pray and hear on a Sabbath, as David danced before the Ark, with all our might, 2 Sam. 6. 14. we must stretch out the hand of faith, lift up the voice of prayer, and breath out the longings and anhelations of our souls. These heights of spirit do exceedingly become the holy and blessed Sabbath.

[Dir. 5] We must he frugal of the time of the Sabbath. The filings of Gold are precious, much more the filings of a Sabbath. Every minute of a Sabbath is like a pearl, small, but of great value. There are no loose minutes in the Lord's day; every little parcel of time is a holy fragment, which must be gathered up, that nothing be lost. We must fill up every space of a Sabbath, either with holy thoughts, divine meditations, ejaculatory prayers, reading of the Scriptures, or some holy duty correspondent to that holy day. Every branch of this consecrated time must bear precious fruit: we should in our Sabbath below imitate our Sabbath above, and there no time will be lost, Not a drop of idleneness in an Ocean of rest. Though there will be no pains in glory, yet there will be perpetual praises, eternal, uninterrupted Hallelujahs, and there shall be no breach or chasm in our everlasting triumphs. Indeed the Sabbath is rest from our callings, but none from our duties; it is an holy leisure for our souls, which must not run waste. Grains of Musk are sweet and valuable, so are the most minute pieces of a Sabbath. The Romans were so ambitious of the Consulship, that one Consul dying the last day of his Authority, one sued for the remainder of the time, whence that memorable speech of Cicero, O vigilantem Consulem, &c. O watchful Consul, who slept not one night in his Authority. Such holy ambition we should have for the time of a Sabbath, we should sue for the smallest remains of it, to improve for soul advantage. The Author of the Practice of Piety complains of some, who spent their Sabbath, or a great part of it, in trimming, & painting, and pampering themselves, and were like Jezebel's, doing the Devils work when they should be doing God's. Surely such are the greatest unthrifts, and are guilty of the most prodigious prodigality. It was a pious constitution of Clemens, That on the Lord's day we should give no way to mirth or earthly delight, but all our words and facts should savor of holiness. Dr. Bound sadly bemoans the custom of some great personages, who lay longest in their beds upon God's holy day, and made it a day of pleasing the flesh, which should be a day of sanctified rest: And saith this worthy man in an ecstacy of zeal, We must not give ourselves to sleeping on this blessed day, no more then to surfeiting. The Prophet Joel tells us, On solemn Feasts, the Priests were to lie all night in sackcloth, Joel 2. 13. And we know, Hester spent three nights, and three days with her Maids in fasting and prayer, Hest. 4. 10. And can there be a greater solemnity then the Sabbath, the day for transacting the great affairs of eternity, our golden spot of time to get a Christ, to get a crown? Zanchi observes, That the whole of a Sabbath, without abatement and curtail is to be consecrated to God. Irenaeus, one of the morning stars of the Church informs us, That the Sabbath doth teach us, there ought to be a perseverance, and a continuance of a whole day in the service of God. And the Council of Paris, an assembly of learned men, give in their suffrage to this truth in these words. Let your eyes and hands be lifted up to God all this day. To the same purpose speaks the Council of Turon, But I shall not over-load or clog the Reader with human testimonies: Let me only subjoin the attestation of incomparable Calvin. This day, saith he, is not ordained for us only to come to a Sermon, but to the end, that we may employ the rest of our time to laud and praise God. Here we may take up that of the Prophet, Mat. 1. 14. Cursed is the deceiver: And this is too much to imitate Ananias and Sapphira, to keep back part of the price of a blessed Sabbath, Acts 5. 2. God will not have us to divide the Sabbath between himself and ourselves, this is to make a separation between God and us. God's day must be spent in God's service; and to waste any part of it upon our gains, ease, or pleasure, is to rob God of his offerings, which is matter of complaint and condemnation, Mat. 3. 8, 9. While we make bold with God's day, we do but mangle it, and every waste is a wound in it. Indeed Macrobius tells us, That the heathens had their dies intercisos, bipartite days, which were divided between their God and themselves, Semisolemnities: And the Papists have their half holy days, as St. Blacies day, and others, &c. But we have not so learned Christ. It was an excellent constitution of King Pepin of France. We command, saith he, That all abstain from every sin, and from every carnal work, and from every earthly work, and to be at leisure for nothing but prayer, and Church assemblies, with the greatest and highest devotion, and with charity to bless God, who upon this day rained down Manna in the desert, and fed so many thousands with bread. Morsels, nay grains of time are savoury upon a Sabbath. The soul can feed upon the crumbs of such a day. Sabbath wastes are the throwing away pearls, the casting over-board the best goods which might enrich us to all everlasting. That time thou mispendest on a Sabbath, might be God's time for the calling thee home to himself.

CHAP. XXXVII. Some further Directions conducing to the same End.

[Dir. 6] LEt the whole man be employed on the Sabbath.

1. All the parts of the body. The tongue in prayer, the ear in attending, the knee in submission, the eye in contemplation, the hand in charitable contribution. This would be a sacred symphony, and make the body not only a a reasonable, but an acceptable sacrifice.

2. All the faculties of the soul must understand their several offices and tasks.

1. The understanding must drink in truth, as the tender herb the small rain, and the new mown grass the seasonable showers. Then the understanding must be as the lights of the Sanctuary, of very great use.

2. The will must embrace the Doctrines of the Gospel. The understanding sees the commodity, the will buys it: The understanding fastens the eye upon the treasures of the Gospel, but the will fastens the hand; the understanding is the purveyor of truth, but the will brings it home.

3. The affections must be employed in pursuing Christ, and in holy meltings in sacred duties; the soul must be all afloat in loves, and delights on God's blessed day; then our affections must follow the prey, our dear Jesus, our Beloved, who is altogether lovely.

4. The Memory must be the Scribe to set down every heavenly counsel, everything which drops from the heart of God; As that King of Syria, whose Ambassadors catched at every word, 1 Kings 20. 33. The Memory must record every soul-concernment, it must be the Exchequer where the riches of Ordinances are reposited, and laid up: And after all, we must with the Virgin Mary ponder all those things in our hearts, Luke 2. 51. Thus both soul and body must be espoused in Sabbath service; they must, as Joseph and Mary, go both together to seek Christ, as the two Disciples which went to Emmaus, both must join in conversing with Christ, Luke 24. 15. Though the body act the part of Martha in the week, and is cumbered with many things, yet it must act Mary's part on the Sabbath, and mind only the one thing necessary, and lie at God's feet in holy dispensations. Body and soul on the Sabbath, are as those two Disciples, that went to Christ's Sepulcher, John 20. 4. but the soul is that Disciple, which out-runs the other, and comes soonest to the end of their Enquiry; the soul comes quickest in, and closest up to Christ. Mariners observe that the two stars, Castor and Pollux, when they are asunder, they prognosticate foul weather, but when together, they portend a fair and calm season: so when we bring only the body to the Ordinances of a Sabbath, it portends nothing but sorrow and disappointment, but when soul and body both meet in sacred duties upon this holy day, it is a good prognostication of fair weather to the Christian, smiles from above, and peace from within. In the duties of a Sabbath, we must study devotion, but not division; we must not think to please the flesh, and to please the Lord too, on his own day.

[Direct. 7] Works of mercy do very well become the Sabbath: This is a day of love and mercy. If in the times of the Law, the Law of Circumcision, a painful Ordinance, was not to be omitted, John 7. 22. Much more in the times of the Gospel, a law of Love, must bind us, and oblige us on a Sabbath. Love is under a Command, as well as Circumcision, John 13. 35. Rom. 13. 10. Mercy, it is the very music of God's Attributes, Psalm 108. 4. it is the Almoner to provide for man's wants, it is the service of Angels, Luke 22. 43. And it is the comely dress, which sets off the beauty of a Sabbath. That we have a Sabbath, is an Act of divine mercy; and we cannot duly keep a Sabbath, without employing ourselves in the works of mercy. Tertullian, in one of his Apologies, joins Prayer, reading of the Scriptures. and giving Alms together, as being all equally the duties of a Sabbath: With him joins issue Learned and profound Chemnitz, who, speaking of the Church of Brunswick, saith, That upon the Lord's day a great multitude of people are gathered together, to praise God, to hear his Word, to receive the Sacrament, to holy Prayer, to give Alms, and other exercises of godliness. Thus Charity is mingled with other holy duties. Gwalther cries out, Let us admire the goodness of God in giving us a day of Rest; and shall not our bowels be softest on that day, when God's mercy is sweetest? Mans pity is a good handmaid to wait on God's bounty. That day which is a day of life to us, should be a day of love from us: Charity on a Sabbath, is like fire put to Juniper, it turns it into a perfumed flame. Now there is a four-fold Charity we must exercise on God's holy day.

[unspec 1] There is Charitas oeconomica, Charity to our Families. It is very observable, that every clause in the 4th Commandment, is an injunction to Charity: We must be tender to our servants, they must not work: we must be compassionate to our Children, they must not toil: we must pity our beast, that must not drudge: we must have bowels to the stranger within the Gates, he must rest and be refreshed: so that we may say with the Apostle, Rom. 13. 8. Love is the fulfilling of the Law. The Command for the Sabbath is written in golden Letters of love and Charity. The Lord's day must be spent, not in the sweats of labor, but in the sweets of duty; not in wearisome toil, but in holy rest. Parental, or despotical rigor, is an open breach of this Command, which breaths nothing but sweetness and indulgence. The Sabbath is no day for the forge, or the plow, it was never set apart to waste our spirits, but to mind, and negotiate the affairs of our souls. Bishop Andrew's saith, Mercy on a Sabbath, is the sanctification of a Sabbath. Surely, those Governors of families do highly profane the Sabbath, where the maid-servant must toil at the fire, to provide for their luxury; The man-servant must be no otherwise employed, then to serve their company; Children must wait and serve at the table, to show the grandeur of the family; where, instead of singing Psalms, there is clattering of Dishes, and instead of gathering Manna, there is gathering up of fragments, and instead of a composed lying at Christ's feet in holy Ordinances, there is nothing but hurries, noise, and confusion. Here it might be expostulated: Shall servants have no breathing for their souls? no necessary pauses to mind eternity? Is not this more then Egyptian bondage? Is not not this to cause our families to return back to the Land of Ham, to their wonted captivity and thralldom? Can such Governors disciple it after Christ, and yet have no bowels to the immortal souls of their inferiors? Christ shed his blood for precious souls: and these will not dispence with a humor, with their pride, with a feast, with an entertainment, for the good and advantage of a never dying soul. But such cruelty and oppression, saith Dr. Bound, is the scandal of Christianity, and unravels all that mercy which is folded up in the fourth Commandment. God in the Law commands us to pity, and show mercy to our enemies Ox, Exod. 23. 4. to an Ox, which is a beast to be fatted for the slaughter; to our enemies Ox, whose enmity might damp our charity, and yet here we must show compassion: How much more must the soul of a Child, or a servant be precious to us? Shall thy servants here lie among the pots, and hereafter among the flames, and wilt thou do nothing to prevent it? Wilt thou not give them Sabbath room to sail to Heaven in? Surely, this is the dregs of tyranny. Well then, this piece of Charity we must show upon a Lord's day; we must be tender to our families, we must call them from all toil and labor to wait on God in his sacred institutions. In a word, to despise our servants on a Sabbath, so as to think they are only fit to drudge here, is an act of pride ond insolency, Such remember not, that Paul wrote an Epistle to Philemon for his servants sake: and to employ our servants on a Sabbath, and not regard what becomes of them hereafter, is an act of inhumanity, and such forget that the poor receive the Gospel, Mat. 11. 5. The lame & the maimed were brought to the Kings feast, Luk. 14. 21. and the difficulty lies, how the rich man shall get to heaven, Luk. 18. 25. Nay, Christ himself took upon him the form of a servant, Phil. 2. 7. Thy servants soul is of an higher price, then the world. It is observed by a worthy man, That in the fourth Commandment, Rest is granted to those who have most need of it, to the poor servant, and the friendless stranger; to show, that it is even a duty of nature to be pitiful, and charitable to our families upon God's holy day.

[unspec 2] There is Charitas crumenae, a charity of the Purse, which we must likewise show on the Sabbath. Now we must find objects to be the Cisterns of our bounty, we must here occurrere ut succurramus, meet some, whom we may minister to. Augustine, his rule is a golden Rule on this day, The poor petitions a little of our temporals, give it him, thou shalt receive it in eternals. But if we object our inability: It is replied, It is not how much, but out of how much, God looks at. The widows two mites was a commended charity, even by Christ himself: But let this caution be minded, let us take heed in our giving, that we do not take away on other days to give on this day, rob the week to adorn the Sabbath; this is pride, not charity, and the greatest portion is given to Satan: But let our charity on the day of the Lord, be according to the simplicity of the Gospel, and so our charity may make our purse the lighter, but it will make our Crown the heavier, and what we have laid out in one world, we have laid up in another. In the primitive times there were collections for the poor every Lord's day, 1 Cor. 16. 1, 2. A consecrated day being fittest for a consecrated dole: