The Practical Sabbatarian
[unspec 2] Look on them as the resemblances of glory. Sitting at a Sacrament resembles our eating and drinking with Christ at his table in his Kingdom, Luke 22. 30. the Communion resembles the fruition. Let us then prize Ordinances, which are the twilight, and dawning of Glory.
CHAP. XXXIX. The Lord's day is a day of Rest, but not of Idleness.
[Caut. 5] LEt us take heed least we interpret, the day which God calls a day of Rest, to be a day of Idleness. God gives us relaxation on his own day, but it is not, either for sport or sleep, but for duties, not for pastime, but for prayer. Our ground lies fallow sometimes, that we may plow it, and sow it to the better advantage. Rest is given us, because the body and the soul cannot both well be employed together, earth and heaven cannot both be minded together: Now this divine indulgence must be a spur to holy duties, and not our leave to play with lying vanities. The Sabbath is a holy leisure, our spiritual vacation, to attend on the affairs of our precious souls; it is our happy Champion, upon which we run the Race which is set before us. Mr. Bernard of Batcombe observes, that Sabbath includes Rest in its very name, and in the holy tongue signifies no more but rest and cessation, but this rest must be a holy rest, Exod. 31. 15. A rest to the Lord, Exod. 16. 23, 25. set apart, and separated to the service of God, as a sanctified day of Rest, Isa. 58. 13. Musculus takes notice, This day is not to be kept to ourselves, but to the Lord; not to please the flesh, but to serve the soul. This day is consecrated time, and therefore not to be employed to sinful or secular uses. Ease and idleness are the locust and the Palmer worm, which cat up the pleasant fruits of God's holy Sabbath. Hast thou nothing to do on a Sabbath, when thou hast a soul to save, an account to give, and a heaven to get? So the Apostle saith, 1 Tim. 4. 8. Bodily labor profiteth little; so on a Sabbath, bodily ease profiteth as little. It is a worthy speech of learned Andrew's, To keep a Sabbath in an idle manner is the Sabbath of beasts, not Men, of Oxen and Asses, not of Christians and Saints; a Sabbath suitable to Nebuchadnezzar, when he kept his belluine Court in the Field, and the brute beasts were the Princes of his train, Dan. 4. 33. It is the observation of a learned man, It is not said in the 4th. Commandment, remember to keep the Sabbath, but, remember to keep holy the Sabbath day. Now to keep holy the Sabbath, is to dedicate its rest to holy, pious, and sacred exercises: the Sabbath is the souls recesse, its holy retirement for service, its pause from the things of the world, and from the noise of earthly affairs, that the Saint may hear what the Lord will say, for he will speak peace to his people, Psalm 85. 8. It is a seasonable calm, that we row to shore without danger or disturbance. Indeed, as Bishop Andrew's affirms, and that worthily: Such is the perverseness of man's nature, that when God speaks rest, then we say, labor: and when he saith labor, then we speak rest: nay, we make it a policy to find labor on that day, which he hath denied us to labor in. But this is the perverseness of nature, not the office of grace, Rom. 8. 2.
There hath been a general disgust in the World against idleness on the Sabbath day. The Sanhedrin among all varieties of men have voted it down: If we run back to the earliest times, the Jews inform us, the Sabbath was given us to contemplate on the works of God, and to meditate in his Law; so Ibn Ezra, a famous Rabbi among them. Another of the same Nation and profession tells us, That the Sabbath is more grateful to God, then any other day of the week, because then Man diverts himself from the negotiations of the world, his abstracted mind is conversant in the sacred Wisdom, and service of God: So Rabbi Kimchi. And it is most certain, that God's blessed day was never instituted for mere cessation, that man might sit down and rest himself, and so take his ease, but that we should meet for holy worship, and congregate for exercises of Piety. Philo the Jew is most copious, in recording the savoury behaviours of the Jews on the Sabbath, which Eusebius industriously takes notice of, and doth likewise observe the great advantages which that Nation gained, by their careful and strict observation of the Sabbath, though afterwards unhappily they were too remiss in this kind, and gave occasion to the rebukes and scorn of many Writers in those times; And indeed, when they fell short in Sabbath observations, the crown of their glory was fallen. Mannasseh Conciliator, in some heat cries out, It is a notable error, to conceive that the Sabbath was ordained for carnal ease; That this should be the ultimate end of that consecrated day, to lie on a Pillow, or sit on a Couch, to ease a lump of flesh, And the Jerusalem Talmud, that sacrary of Jewish learning and knowledge, positively affirms, that the Sabbath was given to the people of Israel, only to meditate on the holy and blessed Law of God. Thus we may see, that the Jews sacred Code finds employment to take up our Sabbath, and not to waste it in sloth and idleness.
And if we cast our eye on the golden times of the Gospel, the Primitive Fathers with much zeal declamed against sluggish Sabbaths. Athanasius makes the knowledge of God to be the chief end of the Sabbath, and gives us this reason, Because knowledge is more necessary then rest. When God imposed rest upon us in the fourth Commandment, at the same time he commanded religious actions, for rest must be given to some end or purpose; God and nature doth nothing in vain, as Aristotle observes. And to what end should holy rest be given, but to holy uses? that man being freed from worldly cares, he might apply himself wholly to the contemplation of God and his word, and that the soul might leisurely converse with its beloved. It is an excellent Paraphrase of Cyril, one of the glittering lights of the Primitive Church (those stars which seem so little, because they are so remote from us) To hallow the Sabbath, saith he, is to make the rest of it devout, holy, and employed to Godly exercises, whereby the mind may be instructed, exercised, and grounded in things pertaining to godliness; and to the same purpose Gaudentius Brixianus. Ignatius that blessed Martyr, who led the Van of all the Societies of the Fathers, and lived thirty years with the Apostle St. John, he thus sharply argues in his Epistle to the Citizens of Magnesia, Let us not Sabbatize after the Jewish manner, as rejoicing in idleness, but let us keep Sabbaths spiritually, rejoicing in the meditation of the Law, not in the remission of the Body, admiring the workmaniship of God, not drinking things luke-warm, nor walking measured paces, not rejoicing in dances, &c. And Chrysostom urges with much holy fervency, That on the Sabbath we should lay aside all the affairs of this life, and withdraw ourselves from them, and spend all the leisure of the Sabbath in things spiritual and divine, which concern our souls. This eminent Person makes a difference between sloth and rest; the one concerns the body, the other the soul; and he clearly states the Question, that the Sabbath was never given us to please a piece of clay, but to serve the interest of that piece of eternity, which everyone of us carry in our own bosoms. And on this manner Augustine courts his Auditors, We must know, dearly beloved, That it is therefore appointed of our holy Fathers, and commanded to us Christians, that upon the Lord's day we should rest, that reposing from all worldly business, we might be more fresh and prompt for God's divine worship, and may with more ease attend upon the will and service of God. Nay, a whole council, viz. of Laodicea, in the twenty ninth Canon hath these words. It doth not become Christians to Judaize, and to be idle on the Sabbaths. This was the spirit and temper of the Primitive times; they press that our Sabbaths might be spiritualized, not that our work should wholly cease, but only should be changed, that the labor of the hand should be turned into the working of the heart, that manual operations should be turned into mental contemplations; and on this day our work must not be servile, but seraphical; we must not throw away the Pen, but we must write the fairer.
In the middle times of the Church, when such dark clouds had over-spread it, that spiritual worship was as Saul among the Prophets, rare to a Proverb; yet then the employing of the time of a Sabbath in holy service, was accounted moral in the fourth Commandments; and scoffs were bestowed freely by the writers of those times, on those who wasted the Sabbath in plays or idleness. This bright truth, like a star in the night, made its way to shine in the darkest times. The fine spun disputes of the Schoolmen could not distinguish it away, but it brake through all their curious webs. This truth was so fastened in the Church, it could not be disputed out by the School. And let Semper eadem not only be Queen Elizabeth's Motto, but the Sabbaths holy observation. In the dawning of Reformation there was light enough to discover this truth, many eminent Divines (those burning and shining lights, which blaze more because they are nearer to us) give in their suffrage, for spending the Sabbath in holy exercises, sharply decrying sluggishness and sloth on this blessed day. It is the grave observation of incomparable Calvin, That God speaks not of a small matter when he commands the sanctification of the Sabbath, but doth exhort us to a diligent marking of it, and our want of care to mark is a breach of this Commandment. This worthy man could not imagine, that a Memento should Preface a day of sloth and idleness, that we might take our carnal ease without such an alarm. To walk in the fields, to sit idling at the door of our house, to chat in a room upon a Sabbath, are no such importances, as to require such diligent attention or exact observation, there is little holiness in anything of this. A carnal man may rest from labor, and never much mind or need a command. Nature will let us to take our case without any special command from the God of nature. The great Jehovah had never needed, in the midst of thunderings and lightnings with great terror and Majesty, to give out a command for us to go to a Bench to sit on, to a couch to talk on, or to a bed to lie on. A School-master need not make a set speech, or tune his language to strains of Oratory, to persuade his Scholars to go to play and be idle. Idleness needs no great enforcements, wants no arguments of reason, nor paintings of Rhetoric; we can prate of worldly affairs, and take our pleasing pastimes without any attractive engine. Zanchi speaks very pregnantly to this purpose, I call, saith he, this days rest divine and holy, because as God is never idle, so he would have us take rest in soul and conscience after that manner, that yet notwithstanding we be always employed in those things which are of God's spirit, and which appertain to the glory of God, and to the good both of ourselves and others. The cause of commanding rest upon the Sabbath, was not for rest sake, and that man might be idle, but that he might altogether spend that whole day in divine worship. Thus this Reverend Person rightly state • the Question, and truly asserts, that as rest is included in the Commandment, so holy and spiritual worship is the end of that rest. God calls us off from Earth to mind Heaven; and the body must have a vacation, that the soul may have a Term; the body must decrease, that the soul may increase. Corporal rest is only the means, by which we may pursue our eternal rest. This, learned Rivet looks upon it as a brutish and heathenish Opinion, to think that God should give us a holy day for sloth and remissness; and he positively tells us, That the end of the Sabbath must be the recordation of divine benefits, and to refresh our memories with most grateful rehearsals of God's bounty, and to put up prayers for future grace, for the leisure of Saints must not be fruitless. The echo of this golden sentence is true and sweet. A godly man's leisure must not run waste; When the world gives him a short quietus est, he must rest in God; His spare hours from his outward affairs, must be his serious hours for his soul. The Saints have always work to do on this side eternity, but especially on that day when rest is commanded us to look after eternity. Hospinian here accents this truth most sweetly; There is, saith he, a sublime end of the Sabbaths leisure, viz. That we might get nearer to eternal salvation, that we may follow the duties of an holy life, that we may remember our former actions, and so dren • h ourselves in tears of repentance; and this saith he, the very Jews cannot deny. Our Sabbaths, according to this worthy man, are only post days for heaven, opportunities for grace, which is the morning star of glory, and the dawning of blessedness. Nay let us hear a Quaternion of Divines, the Professors of Leyden; Cessation of work, say they, is commanded, not that we should only enjoy corporal idleness, but fall upon spiritual business, holy duties and exercises. It is not called the Sabbath of man, but the Sabbath of the Lord; not only because God is the Author of it, but likewise, because it is to be dedicated to, and spent in the things of the Lord, both publicly and privately, and is to be directed to the sanctification of his name. These Champions of truth direct us to the proper end of the Sabbath, which is not to waste, but to work, not to consult our ease, but to consult our souls. Our temporal affairs must be suspended, that our better affairs may be minded. The poor soul should have been wh • lly neglected, had not the God of it appointed one day in the week for its service and salvation.
This truth is so apparent, that our very adversaries join issue in the attestation of it. Mr. B • erewood, who wrote so zealously for sports on the Sabbath, yet in his second Tract, pag. 15. acknowledgeth, That the Commandment for the Sabbath enjoins,
1. The outward worship of God.
2. Cessation fr • m works, as • necessary preparation for that worship; that as the end, and this as the means. So then, by his confession, to holy rest we must join holy work: And experience tells us, saith Musculus, that too much leisure never makes for the increase of Religion, no more then the Country-man gains by his fallow ground.
Nay the very Heathens themselves laughed at idleness upon the Sabbath: And Seneca derided the custom of the Jews upon their Sabbath, because they spent it in things vain and impertinent, and not in the worship of God; and said, The Jews threw away the seventh part of their lives. And surely that sin must be grievous, which becomes the scom and derision of an Heathen; that crime must needs be great, which lies open to the discoveries of Natures light.
But the Scriptures, which are the most authentic testimony in this case, will bring in most ample witness; they will find us employments for the Sabbath.
1. If we look into the Old Testament, we shall find the sacrifices to be double on the Sabbath day. Two Lambs of the first year without spot, and two tenth deals of flower, with a meat offering mingled with oil, and the drink offering thereof; this is the burnt offering of every Sabbath, besides the continual burnt offering, and the drink offering, Numb. 28. 9, 10. There must, ye see, be an over-plus of sacrifice on the Sabbath; then our worship must be in the full, and not in the wane, in the strongest tide, not at low water: Likewise on the Sabbath there was to be an holy Convocation; and surely the Jews did not meet solemnly to look one upon another. Their meeting in the Temple or the Synagogues spake worship, something of Service Divine. Likewise on the Sabbath there was the reading of the Law, God's will was then opened to the people, Nehem. 8. 8. The Sabbath was not a day of sloth but instruction, it was not a day to be in the rubbish of ease, but to be built up in the most holy faith. And on the Sabbath there were certain solemn songs chanted forth to the praise of the Creator; and therefore the ninety second Psalm is inscribed, a Psalm for the Sabbath. And there was likewise reasonings and discourses of Divine things, as we have hinted, Acts 17. 2. There were exhortations given to the people for their furtherance of faith and godliness, Acts 15. 21. Moses was preached every Sabbath day, as the Apostle James speaks in the fore-cited place. So then, the Sabbath wanted not its employment in the times of the Law.
Nor did the Lord's day run waste in the times of the Gospel; then the Disciples met together, the Sacrament was administered, the Gospel was preached, Acts 20. 7. And charity was collected, 1 Cor. 16. 1, 2. Which duties unquestionably wanted not the concomitancy of fervent prayers and supplications; so then there was an aggregation of holy and solemn services. Holy duties were not as a single star, but as a constellation, and in that cluster there was a blessing. So Old and New Testament are a twofold witness, to condemn sloth and idleness upon God's blessed day: And by the mouth of two witnesses, especially if infallible, everything shall be established.
And indeed idleness on any day carries its brand in its forehead: Idle Soldiers will easily turn mutinous. Idle Scholars will easily degenerate into sin and ignorance: and idle Tradesmen will easily sink into want and poverty. Abundance of idleness was one of the sins of Sodom, the worst of places, Ezek. 16. 49. It is the sink of sin, the Common shore of evil, it is the rust of the soul, which eats out its noble faculties. Themistocles used to say, It was burying men alive. And idle persons, like wanton widows (to use the Apostles phrase) are dead while they live, 1 Tim. 5. 5. And the Apostle makes idleness the source of many other sins, 1 Tim. 5. 13. It was once the saying of Ephrem Syras, Do not fly labor, least the Crown fly from thee. Idleness is every way sinful.
[unspec 1] It is opposite to man's condition. He was born to labor, Gen. 3. 19. Dew is not more natural to the surface of the Earth, then sweat is to the brow of man. Toil and labor is man's Scutchion, and the first Arms he gives. The bird doth not fly more naturally, then man should toil. Man in his innocence was to dress the Garden, ever since the fall he is to dig it.
[unspec 2] All creatures read a Lecture against idleness. The Sun is swift in its travel, the stars speedy in their motion, the fire flies upward, not a little spark but is upon its flight. The beasts of the field do our work, carry our burdens, they are active for the service of man. The wise-man sends us to the Ant and the Pismire to learn industry, Prov. 6. 6. Prov. 30. 25. These little creatures are the confutation of sloth and idleness.
[unspec 3] Idleness will much inhance and embitter our account. God hath not endowed the soul with quick and sparkling faculties, and the body with strength and potency, and all in vain. Basil positively determines, He who hath given us apt and fit strength, in the judgment day will expect an account of a suitable industry. There is strength for labor, and there must be sweat in labor.
[unspec 4] Idleness is the Nurse and Pander of corruption. Augustine observes, that Rome decayed and fell after Carthage was conquered, because it wanted a Competitor to find it employment. Chrysostom asked the Question, What advantage doth the ship bring which lieth upon the shore, or the sword which hangs up and rusts in the hall? &c. When David rose from his slothful bed, then his corruption caught fire, which turned into such a flame, that it scorched both himself and his family.
But idleness on a Sabbath day lies under greater aggravations; It is not the spawn, but the Serpent; it is not the Cockatrice egg, but the Cockatrice. Let us trace it a little.
[unspec 1] Idleness on God's day is a dishonor to the Author of it. What honor can accrue to God by an idle and lazy rest? Is the Minister graced by sleepy Auditors? It is the weeping eye, the bended knee, the praising tongue, the working heart brings honor to the Almighty. Shall an oscitant and sleepy worshipper pay the tribute of a dream? Shall the glory of God be promoted, by frequenting the Wakes, walking the fields for recreation, frivolous communication, or any other such method of idleness, on his own blessed day? Surely the disciples of Bacchus can act as much solemnity to their jocular idol.
[unspec 2] Idleness on the Sabbath is only an invitation to Satan to forge temptations, and to make his attempts. Standing waters putrefy. When we stand sti •• , we give the better aim for the adversary to shoot. Satan hath his full scope against a lazy sinner. Indeed he that doth nothing, will soon do evil. He that sits at the door on a Sabbath, will soon be drawn to a Tavern. Holy services are a Bulwark against Satan; and his attempts are rather troubles, then temptations. The Psalmist observes, That wicked men devise mischief upon their beds. When they are at ease, then they lie op • n to Satan's assaults. Gerard worthily takes notice, That to spend God's holy day in idleness is a contradiction to the very command. Communion with God is our close guard, and Satan then must leave us as he did Christ, Mat. 4. 11. Or get behind us, as our Savior spake to Peter, Mat. 16. 23. It is the calm stops the ship in its voyage; and laziness on a Sabbath is the remora which stops our sailing to the Port of glory.
[unspec 3] To be idle on a Sabbath is to invert nature, and, as Heliogabalus the Roman Emperor, to turn day into night. Thus, viz. in idleness; We may serve God as well sleeping as waking, in the shades of the night, as within the veil of the Sanctuary. We need not the lamp of the Sun to light us to do nothing. David tells us of his services and duties by night, Psal. 63. 6. but not of his sloth by day, especially on God's day. Should we run out our Sabbath in idleness, God had no need to have added day to the Sabbath, in the fourth Commandment, night had been as good, for carnal rest is a property affixed to that season.
[unspec 4] To be idle on this holy day is a great loss of time. Subbaths are our golden spot of time, and idleness takes off the gold from this spot. The Sabbath is our term for our souls, and it is frenzy to loiter in our term. Indeed we may say of Sabbaths, as Jacob once said of his Children, If we are bereaved, we are bereaved, Gen. 43. 14. If we lose our Sabbaths, what salv • have we that we should not lose our souls. Lyra observes out of one of the Rabbies, That the double offering was so proper to the Sabbath, that if it was at any time omitted, it could not be supplied on other Sabbath days. One pertinently adds, And there is good reason for it, for every Sabbath day must be kept holy. Take notice all ye vain and idle persons, who waste your precious and irrevocable Sabbaths. The Sabbath is most properly the day our Savior speaks of, John 9. 4. in which we must work, for the night comes, and then no man shall work. And in this, that of the wise man is most true, Prov. 19. 15. The idle person shall suffer hunger. Idleness if it get into our hands, it will ruin our house, Eccles. 10. 18. If it get into our tongues, it will hazard our souls, Mat. 12. 36. If it seize on our persons, it loseth our Sabbaths, we trifle away the day, and we catch nothing.
[unspec 5] To be idle on the Sabbath swerves from the pattern. It is true, God rested on the Sabbath, Gen. 2. 2. but it is, as Divines speak, from the production of new species, and kinds of creatures; he rested from his creating work, but not from his governing work, from new productions, but not from his constant providence; for our Savior saith expressly, Joh. 5. 17. The Father worketh hitherto, and I work. And so must we rest from our secular works on a Sabbath, but not from our spiritual. To be idle on a Sabbath is a contradiction to our perfect and most absolute pattern: Idleness is inconsistent to the Divine Majesty, as being an evil. Musculus decries it as a great error, to think deum ociari, that God is now idle, because he hath finished the worlds Creation: No, but God still propagates, moderates, perserves and governs his world; the Sun which he created, he now causeth to rise every day; the waters which he created, he now either restrains to calmness, or leaves to rage; Man whom he created, still he forms him in his Mothers womb, Psal. 139. 16. And in this we must imitate God, who is not only the Legislatour to command, but the pattern to exemplify Sabbath Rest; we must be still working, we must on that holy day work out our salvation with fear and trembling; and this is our greatest providence, the great work of Government for us, to subject our souls to the obedience of Christ.
2. Idleness on God's holy day swerves not only from the pattern of the Father, but likewise from the example of the Son. Jesus Christ was, as the School-men speak upon another account, purissimus actus, all activity upon the Sabbath: then the wrought his wonders, then he made his cures, then he preached his holy and heavenly doctrines, then he enriched the world with his heavenly discourses, then he went up and down doing good.; The Sabbath was the sphere of his love, the orb of his light, the testimony of his power, and the stage of his most glorious actions. It is observable, Christ enriched the Sabbath with all variety of good; then he taught the soul, then he cured the body, then he healed men of their sicknesses, and women of their infirmities, then he cured patients of spiritual maladies, then he cast devils out of them, these embroidered robes of love and power; Christ clothed the Sabbath with; and canst thou sinner eye Christ, and slide over a Sabbath either doing nothing, of that which is worse then nothing? Canst thou melt a Sabbath into dross by idleness? Shall the head be so vivacious, and thou who pretendest to be a member, be in a Lethargy, in a Swoon, be crampt with sloth and laziless on God's holy day? Either name not the name of Christ, or depart from this iniquity. Study to draw Christ upon a Sabbath, and this will be as Aristotle's iron ball in his hand, which when he fell asleep, fell into a brass bason, and so awakened him; this will keep thee active and vigilant; say, Christ, and this, this will put thee upon work and service.
[unspec 6] Idleness on a Sabbath is neglecting great salvation: the idle sinner on this day loseth great opportunities of life, great condescensions of love, great advantages for the soul. How many have been delivered from the womb of a Sabbath, new born babes in the Church, when God hath said to the loins of an Ordinance, give forth, and to a spiritual opportunity, keep not in. When the wind blows strongly, the waterman sets up his sail, rnd plies at the Ore more industriously. Sabbath opportunities are our good wind for heaven; now we must set up our sail by diligent attention, and sweat at the Oar by earnest devotion; now we must row hard towards the shore of rest and happiness; we must not be as the Drone, but as the Be sucking honey from the flower of every Duty, and every Ordinance. Indeed sloth is one of the blackest spots in the feast of a Sabbath: And yet how many are sitting idly at the doors of their houses, when they should be knocking at the door of heaven, and enquiring for the way of salvation; they are talking frivolously, when they should be speaking to God in holy Orisons and Supplications; they are throwing away time, when they should be laying up treasures, even treasures in heaven; I may say to such foolish sluggards, in the same language, which the Mariners spake to Jonah, Jon. 1. 6. What mean ye sleepers? why do not ye gather your clusters in the vintage of a Sabbath, why do not ye reap your advantages in the harvest of a Sabbath, why do ye not follow the suit of your eternal souls in the term-time of a Sabbath? Pearls are not found in every Rock: Gums do not drop from every Tree, Mines are not sprung in every field: nor is Manna for the soul to be gathered on every day. The careful traveler will not spend his day in sleeping in an Inn. And let us consider, the Sabbath is a day of diversion, but not impertinency.
CHAP. XL. Some incident cases proposed, to satisfy Conscience in Sabbath-observation.
THe Lord's holy day, as it is enriched with many sweets, so it is encompassed with some scruples; not as if there was any obscurity in the command, or cloud in the day; but man in this life knows only in part, 1 Cor. 13. 12. And a twilight knowledge engenders doubts, hesitations and scruples, and as in other things, so in Sabbath observation. And therefore this Chapter shall be spent in directing conscience, least it lose itself in by ways, and irregular ranges, which a faint light may subject it to. Several cases may serve us, instead of several lights, to guide us in the way of peace and security on God's blessed day.
[Case. 1] What we must do in the non-performance, or in the maleperformance of Sabbath duties. Many in the close of a Sabbath are ready to hang their harps upon the willows, and to shed a shower of tears, when they look back and think, they have been in the Wine-cellar of Christ, but they have not refreshed their souls; they have sat with Christ in his banqueting house, but they have enjoyed no divine or spiritual delight; many duties they have neglected, more they have formally passed over; the Sabbath is run out, scarce any stoopings left, and yet they have not quenched the thirst of their souls; the term time is gone, and their cause is as it was, or rather is further off then before; they are very sensible, though they have not filled up the spaces of a Divine Sabbath, they have dropped into the vials of divine displeasure: This is their case, and this is their moan, and let it not be nothing to all those who pass by. Now therefore to satisfy this case,
[unspec 1] Those who have been either short, or superficial in the duties of God's blessed Sabbath, Let them lie in the dust. Sabbath sin should cause seri us sorrow. Titus an Heathen Emperor, when a day was past, and he h • d done no good on that day, was wont to break out into sighs and sorrow; to those who were about him, and cry, O my friends, I have l • ft a day. The loss of any day is matter of moan, but to lose the Lord's day, and the Lord in that day, this is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation. In nature, the interp • sition of the Earth between the Sun and the Moon causeth an e • clipse; and surely when earth, vain thoughts, earthly discourse, froth, and neg • ect have interposed between God and thy soul on his own day, what an eclipse of sadness should it cause upon thy heart? Upon the loss of friends, we go in mourning, and why not in the loss of Sabbaths, which are good friends to the soul? Christ waited for thee in every Ordinance, thou didst not give him the meeting; go home, and like the Dove bemoan the loss of thy m •• e. It is most equal, when Ordinances are not our treasure, that they should be our trouble, and what we want in good, we should make up in g • i •• . When Elisha went with Elijah, and a chariot of fire parted them asunder, carrying Elijah to heaven, and leaving Elisha on earth; Elisha looked up, and cried, my Father, my Father. Hath God and thee, O Christian, been parted asunder on a Sabbath? and hath the Lord left thy heart on earth, and himself gone to heaven? O think sadly of this, and with bitter moan cry out, my Father, my Father, Repent for the loss of the Lord's day, and lament after the Lord of that day. Sad hearts do well become empty Sabbaths. It is very doleful to pine for thirst at the wells mouth; If thy heart hath been dead in duties, let it be drowned in sorrows. Christ looks through the lattice in every Ordinance; if thou hast turned thy back upon him by neglect, or a vain spirit, say with the Church, Is any sorrow, like unto my sorrow?
[unspec 2] Search into the cause of this heartless and fruitless passing away God's precious Sabbath. It is good for a Christian to examine what way-l • id his work, what kept God and his soul a sunder.
[unspec 1] It may be, thou didst not tune thy heart by holy preparation. Lo • se strings make no music; every peg must be wound up: Undressed gardens yield no delightful prospect, nor do the nowers grow, but on the b • ds, where the Gardener hath used his industry and his artifice. Thou hast not happily pl • wed up thy heart aforehand by prayer and meditation, and so it is fallow when it comes to Ordinances. Holy duties themselves are harsh when the heart is out of tune. Marshalled armies engage in battle: and prepared hearts engage most properly, and most beneficially in Ordinances. To examine ourselves, is not only the preface to a Sacrament, but to every holy Ordinance. No wonder thou art dead in the Sanctuary, if thou art deficient in the Closet: thou didst lose the morning, and therefore thou didst lose the day. See, is not this the cause, thou art so heavy and so stupefied in holy Administrations. The clock was not wound up, and therefore it did not strike: Thou wast not with God in secret, and therefore thou didst not meet God in public; so thou looked'st for healing, and behold trouble. The fire must be blown before it turn into a flame. Prepared physic contributes to the cure; there must be the Apothecary to prepare, as well as the Physician to prescribe Medicines. Our hearts must be taken pains withal, before they are fit for the Ordinances of a Sabbath. The Jews had a Preparation day, as well as a Sabbath day, John 19. 43. The heart must be broken by repentance, raised by meditation, spiritualized by prayer, over-awed by a sense of the Divine Majesty, before it is fit for communion with God. It was a serious prayer of holy Hezek • ah, 2 Chron. 30. 18, 19. The good Lord pardon everyone, that prepareth his heart to seek, God, and the Lord God of his Fathe • s, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the Sanctuary. And in the subsequent verse, it is said, The Lord hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people. Experiment this preparatory work, and no doubt but thy complaint will cease, and the case will be satisfied.
[unspec 2] It may be thy thoughts are low of Sabbath gains. Men will not run a race for a trivial prize: Merchants venture to Sea, not for Pebbles, but Pearls: Thou lookest on Ordinances as empty breasts, and so thou liest carelessly at them, But this is a strange and a sinful mistake. Faith the best of graces, is the fruit of hearing, Rom. 10. 17. The Spirit, the best of gifts, is the fruit of praying, Luke 11. 13. And Christ the best of banquets, is the fruit of Sacramental receiving, Mat. 26. 26. Are not Ordinances, the Exchequer of soultreasure, more sweet then the clusters of Camphire? Lam. 1. 14. more transcendent then mountanes of Spices, Cant. 8. 14. More pleasant then the Vineyards of Enge • di, Cant. 1. 14. Surely thou art mistaken sinner; Didst thou ever consider, Prayers have held the hands of the Father, Exod. 32. 10. Gospel doctrines have employed the tongue of the S • n, Luke 4. 43, 44. And a shower of the spirit hath fallen upon the Congregation at a Sermon, Acts 10. 44. Nay, the whole Trinity have been present at a Baptism, Mat. 3. 16. Such fruitful womb • must not be called Barren. But this sinful level, which so prostrates Ordinances, is no more then the evidence of Satan's power, and that he leads thee to much captive at his pleasure. None will call Ordinances empty, but the Father of lies.
[unspec 3] What is it which causeth thy neglect of, or slightness in Sabbath duties? It may be the force of a temptation. Satan hath an enmity to our communion with God. It was the Evil one hindered Paul from going to the Thessalonians to scatter and disseminate the truths of the Gospel, 1 Thes. 2. 18. He stirred up the Jews against the Apostles, when they were propagating the blessed Word, Acts 14. 2. Acts 17. 13. He endeavors, either to keep us from the Word, or to steal the Word from us. The evil one enters Judas at the Passover, rocks Eutichus asleep at a Sermon, useth the word, as a weapon against Christ, and attempts to make it a sword to destroy, which is given for a sword to defend. In Ordinances, we are seen by good Angels, and tempted by evil: Good Angels observe our behaviours, and evil Angels corrupt them. God is nowhere more pleased, and the Devil nowhere more busied, then in the Assemblies of the Saints. And therefore it may be Satan hath shaped his temptations into wedges to divide between God and thee in Ordinances; and this makes thee complain of slightness of spirit in those holy seasons.
[unspec 4] It may be some unrepented sin damps thy heart to, and in Ordinances. Jonah when he had sinned, then he falls asleep in the ship. Sin clogs thee, and therefore opportunities do not please thee: Thou fearest thy title to Christ, and that makes rhee so remiss in thy pursuits after him. Stopped stomachs have no appetite. Holy David longs to appear before God. Trembling consciences, like aguish fits, take away all delight. Music sounds not to a Prisoner: Guilt unremoved by repentance, flats the taste of any Ordinance. David will wash his hands in innocence, & so he will compass God's Altar, Psalm 26. 6. The Curtizan in the arms, will keep the wife from the bosom. Purity and repentance make ordinances as the honey comb. It is Christian prudence, first to throw out the beam of sin, before we look up to the Sun of Ordinances; and to cast out that which grieveth the spirit, before we come to taste the spirit in holy Communion with God. Offending slaves love not to see their Master: Sin makes us shy of God's presence. Adams fall drives him to the trees for a hiding place, and soured Paradise itself to him. Choice diet doth not fatten one in a consumption. Any one sin not vomited up by hearty repentance, and self-abhorrency, will nauseate the soul in Ordinances: Sins are the souls obstructions, which may cause more flushes, but less digestion of the holy Word. When Jonah was thrown over-board, then the Sea was calm: Let sin be thotowly bemoaned and repented, and Christ will be sweet in Ordinances. Sin not disgorged, sucks the sweetness out of all holy duties, and makes them dry, and jejune.
[unspec 3] If thou art slight in, or omissive of Sabbath duties, read lectures upon thy own heart: thy formality arises from disproportion; thy heart is not suitable to holy Duties. The Apostle speaks of a savor of the Gospel, 2 Cor. 2. 14. We want this savor and relish, and this strains the juice out of every Ordinance; our hearts must be assimilated by grace, before they leap for joy in Ordinances, as John the Baptist in the womb, or as David danced before the Ark. Carnal hearts are dragged to the Sanctuary, Rom. 8. 7. As we see paint drops from the face, that not being its proper place, but it stays and remains upon the sign. The unsanctified heart is in Ordinances, as a Bird in the Cage, it flutters a little, but it doth not fly, it is cooped up, and wants its desired freedom; it works at an Ordinance, as the Israelites did at their bricks, they work, because they must give an account to their task-master. When we are superficial in Ordinances, let us see the naughtiness of our own hearts. Sickish palates find no meat savoury. There are three glasses, in which we may best see our hearts.
1. In the glass of temptations. Sharp storms try the house, sharp encounters try the soldier, and soft temptations try the heart: How soon did Bathsheba's beauty enthral David, though otherwise he was a pattern of sanctity.
2. In the glass of afflictions. Fire which refines metals, burneth up dross. When Christ was seized upon, then all the Disciples left, and forsook him, Mark 14. 50. Birds which sing in the spring, hide in the winter.
3. In the glass of Ordinances. If the Spirit hath not breathed upon thy heart, it will not be lively in holy Ordinances. Indeed, a gracious heart melts at a reproof, clasps about a Promise, hides truth as its treasure; but a slight heart, will either rage at the smart, fret at the length, or be offended at the spirituality of an Ordinance. Nothing more puts the heart upon the test, then holy duties. Many followers of Christ left him upon the account of a Sermon, John 6. 66. If therefore thou hast not understood more of God on a Sabbath, then study to understand more of thyself: thy heart is an useful book to read.
[unspec 4] Take up resolutions of stricter communion with God for the future. Bones which are broken, if well set, grow the stronger. Let the sense of former neglects prompt future care; thou hast been slight in Ordinances, resolve thou wilt be serious, and wherein thou hast done evil, to do so no more, Joh. 5. 14. The heart of man stands in need, not only of God's work, but of man's care, the Spirit must sanctify it, and man himself must watch it: When thou comest to Ordinances, bend thy ear, gird up the loins of thy mind, incline thy heart, and summon thy conscience to every truth in hearing, to every petition in praying. Ordinances are like Mountains of spices, sweet when we are got up, but there is some difficulty to get up; we must keep our foot when we go to the house of God, and we must keep our heart when we come there. God's Ordinances are high and sublime, and the Psalmist saith, Mans heart is deep, Psalm 64. 6. Now there must be some toil, some labor and pains, to bring them both together: God must make an Ordinance stoop, and man must pullice up his own heart to an Ordinance. It is man's privilege to enjoy Ordinances, but it is his artifice to improve them: much strength must be put forth to over-master the heart in holy duties,▪ there must be a sense of God's eye, and man's account, to enforce a suitable frame. The Scholar can scrible by himself, but the Masters hand, and his own eye too, is little enough to make him write well. That of the Wise man, Eccles. 9. 10. is chiefly true in the Sanctuary, what ever our hand finds to do, we must do it with all our might: And holy resolution best answers this case, with a serious endeavor, that former negligence shall be repaired by future diligence.
If thou hast been formal, or neglectful on a Sabbath, shame thyself in the observation of the melting behaviours of others. There was once a General, who when his soldiers fought faintly, and cowardly, he allighted from his Horse, and run into the middle of the foot-soldiers, and shamed his Army by his own valorous example. When thou seest one weeping in the Congregation, another sighing, anotehr hanging upon the lips of the Minister, by serious and vigorous attention, say within thyself, O my soul, why art thou so formal, so dead and superficial, and why art thou so discomposed within me? Curious pictures are drawn from lovely persons; and thou shouldst do well to correct thy formality by the serious examples of others. Emulation in spirituals is very commendable, and it doth well become a Christian to copy out the religious custom of an Isaac in holy meditation, Gen. 24. 63. The gust and satisfaction of David in holy Ordinances, Psal. 63. 5. The humility of a Daniel in holy Prayer, • an. 9. 3. The attention of a Lydia in hearing the Word, Acts 16. 14. The melting frame of a Josiah in re • ding the Law, 2 Chron. 34. 27. The heart-breaking expressions of an Ezra in confession of sin, Ezra 9. 3, 4, 5, & t. Thus others music may shame our jarring, and cause our harmony: truly, sometimes, the sight of another man's carriage doth more enflame us, then the sense of God's presence; the Assembly which we see doth more affect us, then God whom we do not see. In Ordinances, the Apostle his counsel is very authentical, we must rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep with them that weep, Rom. 12. 15. Symphony is the sweetness and credit of an Ordinance. The Prophet speaketh of one Name, and one Lord, Zach. 3. 9. Zach. 14. 9. It may be added, one weeping eye, and one melting heart doth very much beautify social worship. In a word, others humble carriage in Gospel opportunities, should constrain ours: we will thank a beggar who puts us in the way. Thus much for the first Case.
[Case 2] What must we do in the good performance of holy duties, and the happy enjoyment of God in Ordinances. It is sometimes the felicity of God's people to be in a flame in holy services, and to enjoy much of God, on the day of God; their faces shine while they are in the Mount with God; with holy David, they see the glory and power of God in the Sanctuary, Psalm 63. 2. with the two Disciples travelling to Emmaus, their hearts burn, Luke 24. 32. whilst Christ communes with them in Gospel dispensations. As once it was said of Viretus his Auditors, they were ever wrapped up into heaven in holy Prayer: and in the evening of a Sabbath thus satisfactorily spent, they are ready to sing Requiems to their souls, and to say, one day in God's Courts is better then a thousand, Psalm 34. 10. In this case, when duties have been transformed into delights, as water turned into wine, by a miracle of Love. Then it is incumbent upon us,
[unspec 1] To be thankful: Surely gratitude becomes us, is our comely oblation, as the Psalmist speaks, Psal. 33. 1. is our convenient sacrifice, as the Syriac reads it, when God gives us not only the space, but the grace of a Sabbath, not only the Sabbath of mercy, but the mercy of a Sabbath. The stone wall reflects the beams of the Sun which shine upon it. If beams of love and joy have visited us in holy opportunities on God's blessed day, reflections of praise are our suitable tribute: it is most rare mercy, with Paul to be caught up, when we have been in the lower stories of Gospel-grace. Nehemiah blessed the Lord for the privilege of a Sabbath; how much more shouldst thou for the divine pleasures of it, when thou hast tasted how good and gracious the Lord is, and thou hast discharged thyself sweetly and sincerely in holy performances? The Hallelujahs of Heaven, are the glorified Saints only offering for their seraphical and eternal Rest. Indeed, the enjoyment of God in Ordinances, is our clearest Sunshine on this side glory. If thou hast had such an enjoyment, speak in the language of the sweet Singer of Israel: Bless the Lord, O my soul, let all that is within me bless his holy Name.
[unspec 2] To be careful. The Saints usually after the best spent Sabbaths, meet with the worst assaults, It was the speech of an experienced Christian, I look for the Devil every Monday morning, I am sure he will come to rob my soul of Sabbath good, if it be possible. Have our hearts been raised, ravished, enliven'd, and enlarged upon the Lord's day? we had need watch the tempter, least he damp our joys, and so grieve our spirits, and embitter our sweets, and lest our mind, which one day hath been heavenly, the next day become haughty, for pride is a worm which is apt to breed in the best weed. It is a rare observation of Bernard, That the mind can swell, as well as the Serpent can bite; we have evil within us, as well as assaults without us: When we have comfortably waited on our God, we must as sedulously watch over our own hearts, or else our sweet raptures will turn into swelling conceits, as refreshing fires send up a black smoke. It was not for nothing, that Paul had a thorn in his flesh, after he had had a Paradise in his view. We are apt to surfeit on the richest Banquets. Too much light doth not increase, but dazzle the sight: After well-spent Sabbaths, let us admire our good, and double our guard: If the Devil will steal away the seed, Mat. 13. 19. he will surely attempt the harvest: the Thief will sooner fetch away bags, then pence.
[unspec 3] To be faithful. If our souls have been sweetened by holy Ordinances upon God's holy day, let us study to keep this divine relish upon our hearts: we are apt to catch cold after the greatest heats. Let us look to ourselves; that we do not lose the things, which we have wrought, and after close and sweet communion with God, grow lax and remiss. Sweet water is as easily spilled, as ordinary water. The rarest Cordials are put into glasses, which are easily broken: there may be a rejoicing, which is only for a season, John 5. 35. the Greek reads it, for an hour: If thy heart hath been wound up towards heaven on a Sabbath, a little carelessness will let it down again. If thou hast spent the Sabbath comfortably, be faithful to thy soul, and interest, and spend the week holily. Purity will keep peace; it is sin grieves the spirit, who is the Comforter, Joh. 14. 16. Our inward joy is only chased away by trespass, which is a thron in the breast of this Nightingale. To be unloosend on the Sabbath from week-day bonds is comfortable: but in the week-time to unloose the Lord's days bonds, is abominable.
[unspec 5] To be fruitful. Comfortable Sabbaths call for conscionable lives. Soft showers make fruitful fields: If on the Sabbath we have enjoyed the comforts of the Lord, it is but meet we should always abound in the work of the Lord. Our week-day carriage should be the springing up of the Sabbath days seed; our whole lives must be a walking in the strength of our Sabbaths. Divers of the Ancients are very copious, and pathetical in persuading men, so to practice Piety, and pursue sanctity, as to perpetuate a Sabbath. We should mingle the Sabbath with the week, but not the week with the Sabbath; as we should be in the spirit on the Lord's day, so we should walk in the spirit on the week day, Gal. 5. 25. It is a remarkable speech of Bucer, Have we served the Lord on his own day? let our manners show it, let our works prove it, let the holiness of our lives abundantly declare it. A pious Conversation is the only evidence we have been with Jesus; we should be in such a frame every Lord's day, as if that was the first Sabbath that ever we spent, and as if that was the last day, that ever we should live, or, as if the weight of all our work lay upon that single Sabbath, for which we were sent into the world, nay, as if our eternal being was to be determined hereby; and yet after the day is over, we must endeavor as much to be doing, as if nothing was done on the Sabbath, and all that we had done, was to be abated on the account. Sabbath comforts are not to be dews, but showers, not suddenly to be dried up, but to soak into our future lives. J • hn the Evangelist, after he had been in the Spirit on the Lord's day, writes the Revelation, the worlds Chronicle within a Veil: Moses, when he had been on the Mount with God, was filled with holy zeal, and Sinai did not flame more, then his heart. Heavenly sweets are only incentives to holy services; and the tastes of divine communion are the genuine bribes to an holy conversation.
[Case 3] How we must keep the Sabbath alone, in the deprival of Christian and comfortable society. There are many cases may befall a Christian, which may render him solitary upon the Lord's day, and for the present enforce him to be an exile from the public Assemblies.
1. As in the case of travelling: we may meet with an Inn, when we cannot meet with a Sanctuary.
2. So in the case of imprisonment: we may be confined to the darkness of a dungeon, and want the glorious liberty of the people of God, the freedom they enjoy in the house of Prayer.
3. So likewise in case of sickness: we may be chained to our beds, and not enjoy the freedom of public Ordinances; And Mr. Perkins instances in the disease of the dead Palsy: so that now Aristotle's definition of Man, to be a sociable Creature, will not comport with our present condition.
4. And it may be instanced in case of hard service, and slavery; when our groans are ready to drown the music of a Sabbath, and we are necessitated to lie down in silence, and solitariness. We do not read that the Jews kept any public Sabbath in their Egyptian bondage: their tasks jarred their triumphs: and they did not only make brick without straw, but they passed over Sabbaths without any visible observation; but yet no case can wholly incapacitate us from conversing with God on his own day; we are never so lonely, but we may enjoy communion with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ, 1 John 1. 3.
1. If we are travelling, we may likewise travel towards Canaan. Holy duties will turn an Inn, into a Sanctuary. Paul prayed by the Rivers side, Acts 16. 13. Peter preached in a private house, Acts 10. 34. and Christ administers the Sacrament in an upper room, Luke 22. 12. Now, we may meditate in every Field, and pray in every Chamber. To Christians, saith Dr. John Reynolds, No Land is strange, no ground unholy, every Coast is Jewry, every Town is Jerusalem, every house is Zion, every faithful body is a Temple to serve G • d in: And to think otherwise is to savor of Judaism, as Hospinian observes.
2. Suppose thyself in prison on the Lord's day: If an Angel can break a prison door, Acts 12. 7. surely Christ can, and give thee the meeting on his own blessed day: When thou art in fetters of iron, he can draw thee with the cords of a man, Hos. 11. 4. If we must visit our brethren, surely he will visit his Saints in prison. Prison doors are no obstruction to the divine illapses of the good spirit, and Prison-straights are no confinement to the enlargements of a Saints heart; a fervent prayer can pierce the roof of the closest dungeon, and flies as high as Heaven. Paul and Silas sang Psalms, one duty of a Sabbath, when they were fettered in their Chains, and enclosed in their Goal.
3. Put case thou art confined to a sick bed; Jacob worshipped God on a dying bed, and waited for his glorious salvation: On a bed of sickness, thou mayest bend thy heart, when thou canst not bend thy knee, and stretch out the hand of thy faith, when happily thy distemper will not suffer thee to stretch out the hand of thy flesh. Sicknesses usually spiritualize duty, not obstruct it. Then the patient prays more feelingly, weeps more heartily, converses with God more greedily. A sense of approaching death, affects the soul with more earnest pursuits after a better life: A Christian under a disease may more pathetically improve, he need not wave a Sabbath.
4. If providence shall cast us into a severe and hard service: the man servant is kept back from holy Ordinances by the profaneness of the Master; the maid servant is kept to her drudgery on God's holy day, by the pride and vanity of her Mistress; Nay, happily our case is, a Turkish Galley is all the Temple we have to worship in; yet then, though we have lost our freedom, we have not lost our Sabbaths. Israel's worship was not lost, but revived in the wilderness, and there Moses talked with God, as a man with his friend. The uncouth and solitary wilderness, was the Sanctuary where the Jews enjoyed the closest communion with God. Paul gave spiritual exhortations in the ship, and in a storm too, when he was ready to be dashed into the pit by every wave, Acts 27. 20. The rage of remorsless masters should make believing servants not to pray less, but as the vassalized Israelites, to groan more; not to be weary of Sabbaths, but to be more wary in their observation; the bondage of the body is no ways eased by the hazard of the soul. The Heavenly Master must be served, especially on his own day, notwithstanding all the frowns and countermands of the earthly, that imperious worm. If threats could have prevailed with the three Children, they had worshipped a golden Image, and not adventured a fiery furnace, Dan. 3. 18. Hard service should make us more heavenly, not more heedless in Sabbath observation. If our case is hard upon earth, we should then the more endeavor to make it more glorious in heaven, and Sabbath-holiness bids fair for it. Now therefore this being premised,
Thus we must keep Sabbaths in our greatest solitariness, when the world is turned into a Patmos to us:
[unspec 1] Let us encourage ourselves, that this is not our case alone, to serve God without company: Moses communed with God alone upon the Mount; there was no press of people, or society of Saints to heighten his enjoyment: Daniel conversed with God in his Chamber alone, and his sacrifice was sweet, though single. Peter was praying alone at the top of the house, when he gets the company of an Angel, that messenger from heaven salutes his pleasing recess. The woman of Samaria enjoys solitary, yet salvifical communion with Jesus Christ, and her soul lay under the distillations of his heavenly doctrine, nay, waters of life did flow more freely, then the waters of the well, which did afford her the plenty of that Element. And to come nearer to our purpose, the blessed Apostle John was in his Patmos, when he was sublimated with unusual raptures, and that upon the Lord's day. A single Lute can make sweet music. The Sun which gilds the world, is but a single Planet. And thy soul serving God alone on his day, may be taken into galleries to walk with Jesus Christ, and feed upon the honey and the honey comb of an Ordinance. The Word was more to Job, then his necessary food, when he lay on the dunghill alone, Job 23. 12. And Christ acted to him above his promise, Mat. 18. 20. He was present, though two or three were not gathered together.
[unspec 2] If thou art necessitated to keep the Sabbath alone, be much in prayer. In this single devotion, Christ is both our President, Luke 6. 12. And our Legislatour, Mat. 6. 6. The Prayer of one Elijah could work miracles, Jam. 5. 17, 18. The Prayer of one Daniel could hasten deliverance, Dan. 9. 23. The Prayer of one Moses could preserve a whole Nation from impending ruin, Exod. 32. 23. Solitary prayers have their peculiar prerogatives; in them we avoid all ostentation, as Chemnitz well observes, and more imitate the votary, then the Pharisee: In them we can search our hearts more accurately, deal with God more faithfully, and give a fuller account of our sins and provocations. Closet devotion is not stopped, because confined, no more then the meditations of David were lost in the darkness of the night, Psal. 63. 6. in which he framed them. Christ came to John in Patmos, when the Island was his bolted Chamber, not with bars, but with waves. Hannah prayed and wept alone, and then she obtained a Samuel, 1 Sam. 1. 10. The heart can work in prayer when there is no company to excite it, and oftentimes God is most effectually present, when man is wholly absent; therefore if we must spend a Sabbath alone, let part of it be taken up in fervent prayer and supplication.
[unspec 3] In this case of solitariness, let us be filled with holy meditations: This holy duty of a Sabbath, is advanced not obstructed by loneliness and retirement, nay, it cannot well be performed in company: the noise of any associates hush away these pleasing contemplations which light upon the mind, or are started by the excitation of the good spirit. In thy solitary Sabbaths, let thy head work in meditation, as well as thy heart in prayer and supplication. These duties coupled, like Castor and Pollux are a good prognostic, and promise fair weather to the soul.
[unspec 1] Meditate on thy sins. Sin is first viewed by meditation, and then moaned by confession, and so consequently cashiered by repentance; and this order is very proper and genuine, first to cast the eye on sin, and then to rend the heart for it, and from it. The head will affect the heart: take then the opportunity of a solitary Sabbath, to cast up thy accounts, and to look backward on thy sinful life, that thy soul may kindly melt, and the Lord may graciously smile, and lift up the light of his countenance upon thee. Moaning Ephraim's are pleasant Children.
[unspec 2] Meditate on God's works: Thou mayest see the glory of a Creation through a prison grate, or within the curtains of a sick bed; thou mayest contemplate on the Sun, when thou doest not see it, that emblem of God's power, and the worlds glory. The Stars shine as bright to meditation in the day, as in the night; and we may take an intellectual, when we do not take an ocular view of them.
[unspec 3] Meditate on the state of the Church; to rejoice in it, or to grieve at it: The Jews in Babylon could weep savourily in the remembrance of Zion, when they did consider its present calamity, and its former glory. Every Christian should be of a public spirit, and lay the case of Zion to heart, either for tears or triumphs. When nothing of the Church is in thy eye, much of it should be in thy thoughts. Much of piety is discovered in sympathy. It was one of Israel's great offenses, they had not a fellow-feeling of the afflictions of Joseph. The Prophet adviseth those who make mention of the Name of the Lord, to give him no rest, till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth, Isa. 62. 6, 7. When thou art alone on a Sabbath, and thy condition necessitates thee to it, let the many thoughts of Zion keep thee company, and be thy congregation to join with.
[unspec 4] Meditate on the attributes of God: Those glorious beams can shine into the darkest and most solitary dungeon, as well as into the most solemn assembly. Think of God's power in creating a world, his justice in burning of a Sodom, his wisdom in contriving a way for man's redemption, his love in sending his Son to die for sinners, his faithfulness in making and keeping his Covenant. Such heavenly meditations, might sweeten a prison, might mitigate a distemper, might alleviate the severity of service or slavery, and might comfort thy soul on God's blessed day, in the greatest recluse and solitariness.
[unspec 5] Spend some time of this solitary Sabbath in conversing with the Scriptures. The Bible is the most delightful companion in the want of all others; the Saint with these Oracles may say with the Philosopher, I carry all my estate with me; Caesar so prized his Commentaries, that being enforced by the Egyptian Army to leap into the Sea, he did swim with one hand, and held up the Book of his Commentaries in the other; his life and his book should both perish together. Our Bible is the most seraphick Commentary upon God's love, and man's heart. God commanded Joshua to meditate day and night in this sacred volume. Indeed the Scriptures, they are a hive of sweetness to delight the soul, a choice treasure to enrich the soul, more then necessary food to support the soul, The sword of the spirit to defend the soul, a transcendent Paradise to consolate and refresh the soul. Every truth in the Scriptures is brighter then a star, every promise in the Scriptures is richer then a Mine, every threatening in the Scriptures is sharper then a sword, every offer of grace contained in the Scriptures is more valuable then a world; therefore in thy lonely Sabbaths, say with the Psalmist, O how I love thy Law? It is my meditation all the day, Psal. 119. 97. And this converse with sacred writ, will be a good prognostic of success and happiness. It is reported of Queen Elizabeth, that in her great afflictions in her sister Queen Mary's reign, she was much conversant in the holy word, and as the word of God sweetened her soul, so the Providence of God smiled on her condition; for after the flight of a very few years, she wore the Diadem of this Nation, flourished many years in the throne of her Royal Progenitours.
[unspec 5] Fill up this solitary Sabbath with the Collection of former experiences. David when he was kept waking in the night, he remembered God; his thoughts were taken up with that divine object. When thou art kept from the solemn assemblies by a sick bed, or a close prison, or a sharp Master, Remember thy experiences which thou hadst of old.
1. All thy providential mercies, as the Psalmist recounts his promotion, that God took him from a sheepfold to a throne, and at such a time advanced him to the Sovereignty of the best people in the world, Psal. 78. 70, 71. Then remember thou the additions God hath made to thy Estate, or to thy Family, thy escapes from imminent dangers, thy often deliverances, &c. Experiences of divine love, receive new life from meditation and serious recollection.
2. All thy seasonable mercies. The Psalmist comfortably relates, That when his Father and his mother fors •• k him, then God did take him up, Psal. 27. 10. Then the rare providences of God are most rare and remarkable, and to be noted with an Higgaion Selah. As words, so favors in season, are like apples of Gold in pictures of Silver, Prov. 25. 11. The season is the emphasis of every mercy. Even at the red Sea, Psal. 106. 7. This amplified Israel's sin, they offended even at the red Sea, where they were crowned with a stupendous and seasonable deliverance. Cast thy eye back in thy solitary Sabbaths upon those mercies which were eminent for their season. Health after sickness, supply in wants, rescue from temptations, from sinful or destructive company, when thy soul was plucked out of the snare. Ah how sweet was water to a thirsty Samson, deliverance to the poor Jews when their destruction was signed and sealed. Such pleasing recollections would abundantly sweeten a solitary Sabbath.
3. Thy unexpected mercies; those loving-kindnesses which thou didst not think of, nor pray for, which thy want did not proclaim, nor thy moans pursue. An Angel cometh to Cornelius in his prayers, when he looked not for him. Happily many mercies have befallen thee, which like Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, have brought not only good, but unexpected news. On a solitary Sabbath view over thy unlookt for mercies, which were returns of love, without a prayer to solicit them; the ship came home without any other gale to cause its arrival then divine love.
4. Thy spiritual mercies. A Sabbath is best accommodated for a review of spirituals; then remember the sweets of former Sabbaths as David remembered the joy he used to have when others called him to go to the house of God, Psal. 42. 4. We should then cast in our thoughts, what reproof of the word cut sharpest, what truth struck deepest, what Ordinance came closest to our souls, who was the instrument of our greatest good, what Sabbath was the time of our choicest loves. Peter Martyr could tell the very sentence of a Sermon which first wrought upon his heart. Thy soul, if thou belongest to God, had a month when Christ took thee. Spiritual mercies are most sweet in contemplation, more smooth then the waters of Siloam, more healing then the waters of Jordan. And thus thou mayest travel through the pleasant plains of a Sabbath, when thou art alone, and hast no company.
[unspec 6] If there be occasion, join fasting to the rest of thy holy duties on thy solitary Sabbaths. It is true, the Sabbath is not a fast but a feast day, a day of rejoicing, not of mourning; yet extraordinary cases make extraordinary Sabbaths. Days of great sorrow may draw out tears upon the Lord's day, and turn that celebrity of joy and gladness (to speak in the language of the Council of Gangra) into a day of fast and sorrow. Sometimes Gold chains are put in cypress, and a golden Sabbath may be veiled with sadness in the Churches misery and calamity: If such a case fall out in thy solitary Sabbaths, ashes and sackcloth are the most suitable dress.
[Case. 4] How Conscience may be satisfied, objecting, that flesh and blood cannot hold out a whole Sabbath in the due and strict observation of it. It is not without remark, that the Apostle asserts man's inability in himself to receive the things of God, 1 Cor. 2. 14. Nay he scrues the peg higher, and positively affirms, That the carnal mind is enmity against God, Rom. 8. 7. It stands upon its guard to keep out whatsoever is of God, and he instanceth in himself; that the Law in his members continually disturbed the Law of his mind in every spiritual undertaking, Rom. 7. 21, 23. And if he delighted anything at all in the Law of God, it was after the inward man, Rom. 7. 22. I say, in this particular, the Scriptures are written for our instruction, 1 Cor. 10. 11. For the soul is never more sluggish then in spiritual attempts, then there is a Lion in the way, Prov. 22. 13. A carnal man looketh upon holy duties as his Physic, not as his food, and he keeps the Sanctuary as he keeps his Chamber, only in a case of necessity. In his worldly pursuits he can rise up early, and go to bed late, he can stretch the day to the longest, and be willing to clip the wings of it, because it flies away so fast; but in the pursuits of higher concernments, he complains of the length of a Sabbath, as if the glass stood, and did not run in its usual speed. Mans nature indeed is very remiss in spirituals, and studies more apology then duty; as the invited guests sent their excuse, when they should have brought their persons to the Marriage feast. As the murmuring Israelites, who would not attempt the conquering of Canaan, because the Sons of Anak were there, when their cowardice was the greatest Giant.
But I shall rather study to remove then amplify this pretended scruple, and easily evince that this case of conscience arises rather from sloth, then incapacity. Now to the Case,
It is very true, flesh and blood cannot hold out a spiritual Sabbath, not only for the length of it, but likewise for the services of it; Without faith it is impossible to please God, Heb. 11. 6. And Paul saith in another place, flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, 1 Cor. 15. 50. And the same principle which acts our service in glory, must act our holy services here, though not in the same degree, though more faintly and imperfectly. So then the dregs of nature are not competent for Sabbath observation; the terrene man, as Ambrose and Theophylact speak, a lazy piece of clay, cannot run through the several duties of a Sabbath; but when we cast ourselves on the spirit, we are carried as upon Eagles wings, and then we labor and faint not, we run and we are not weary. It is true, flesh and blood will be wearied at the first on-sets of holy service, but pains must be taken with the heart to spiritualize it in the morning of a Sabbath, that thou mayest come as a Bridegroom out of his Chamber, and rejoice as a strong man to run a race, Psal. 19. 5. As holy Bernard most excellently, Faith resting on Christ gives us a kind of omnipotency. A Saint in the strength of Christ, by the assistances of Christ, with the encouragements of Christ, can come leaping over the mountain of a Sabbath, as his short and recreative travel, his pleasure, not his toil.
[unspec 2] However God must not lose his right of service from us, because we have procured to ourselves wretched natures, which are soon weary of spiritual duties. If Sabbaths are tedious to us, this must be our moan, not our excuse; we must weep over this occasion of complaint, we must not watch for it; this case must not stir up our scruples, but our tears. Ad • m was vivacious enough to keep Sabbaths before the fall. Let the prisoner never complain, he cannot run, when his sin and trespass hath put him in chains. A sense of tyredness on the Lord's day should deeply humble us, and put us upon filling God's bottle with our tears, that he would fill our hearts with his spirit, (that glorious and active principle) to carry us out in the discharge of Sabbath-performances. Ah! It is our sin hath crampt our faculties, and caused that lameness, that we cannot run the short race of a Sabbath.
[unspec 3] Lazy servants can hardly undergo any labor, much less to hold out a whole day, yet the awe of their earthly Masters makes them to do it; so should God's fear move us to keep a whole Sabbath. Thou sayest, thou art not able to keep a Sabbath, but canst thou lose an eternal Sabbath? It is a cursed exchange to forfeit everlasting rest for a little sloth. Sabbaths must be kept, if thy soul be saved. Let the sense of a future judgment, when every Sabbath shall be brought into the account; let the dread of an infinite God, who is a consuming fire, Heb. 12. 29. Let the golden and precious trust of a Sabbath, all spur thee on to Sabbath duties, to make thy way more pleasant and delightful. Let that be done which must be done, or else thou art everlastingly undone: Things of absolute necessity are to be effected, not disputed. If thy servant must go of his errand, or turn out of doors, this makes him run. Here we act for our souls and Sabbaths, whole Sabbaths▪ must be kept, or our souls will perish in the action; thy murmurs cannot silence divine wrath.
[unspec 4] Imperfections through corruption of nature are one thing, for they are in the best, but to nourish them, and willingly to yield to them, is another. I cannot do what I ought, by nature; shall I not therefore endeavor to do what I should, by grace? To say, thou canst not keep a whole Sabbath, doth not only speak thy corruption, but that thou lovest to have it so. Ease corrupts nature, and makes it putrefy, nay, it sets it backward in the things of God. If the Clock be never wound up, the wheels will rust: say to thy unactive heart, a wake thou who sleepest, my eternity is bound up in the due observation of God's day. The slothful servant was condemned, Mat. 25. 26. not he that spent, but he that hid his talent. Thou hast a trade to drive on a Sabbath, away with sluggish nature: flesh, like the sensitive plant, if touched, will withdraw from spiritual performances; but force it by holy violence. It is Apostolical counsel, and most seasonable for the Lord's day, that we should not be slothful in business, but fervent in spirit, Rom. 12. 11. The Sabbath should be our sphere, not our servitude; we should then be as the Sun, which needs no whips to scourge it forwards. Mr. Bernard of Batcombe, asketh the question, Why we should be more indulgent to weak nature, more yielding to the flesh in and about the 4th. Commandment, for the keeping of a day wholly to God, then in or about our whole service in obedience to the other nine? Indeed we should breath after communion with God on his own day, as once Christ did after the Cross, to die for his people, when he was straightened in his own spirit, Luke 12. 50. till it was fulfilled and accomplished.
[unspec 5] To say, we cannot keep a whole Sabbath to the Lord, is an imputation cast upon divine Wisdom. God never commands impossibilities, and yet he severely commands the full observation of a whole Sabbath: and yet to say, God is an hard Master, deserves the brand of an unprofitable servant. The Yoke of Christ is easy, not galled with an incapcity of bearing of it. If we can honor our Father and Mother, which is the next Commandment, why not keep God's Sabbath? There is a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a natural affection sweetens the 5th. and there is communion with God, a more noble attraction, indulcorates and facilitates the 4th. Commandment. Lazy flesh must not commence a suit with infinite Wisdom. God knows our frame, and we must know our duty, nay, in this particular, our privilege: for to keep a day with God is a temporary Paradise, nay a transient heaven our elevation above the world. Let us not then inveigh against the rigor of the Command, but deal with our own hearts to run cheerfully, and sweetly through the heavenly circuits of God's blessed and holy Sabbath.
[unspec 6] Quicquid factum fuit, fiat: Whatsoever hath been done, may be done. Now David layeth it down, as a Character of a godly man, to meditate in the law of God day and night, Psa. 1. 2. The Syriac reads it, as if his whole will & pleasure was wrapped up in the Law of God; the life was to be spent in holy contemplation, not a day, not a few hours: nay, the Psalmist gives an instance in himself, the Law was his meditation all the day; and if he might have his option, he would dwell; The Hebrew bears it, he would Sabbath it in the house of God all the days of his life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his Temple. This blessed man thought his life too short a moment to converse with God, and to behold his beauty. The beauties of God delight, not dazzle the eye of the soul, and such prospects drown all tediousness. The Apostle Paul preaching on a Lord's day, continued his discourse till midnight, not imping, but spreading the wings of the Evening, for greater latitudes in holy Communion: and no doubt, but many a Saint could put a curb into the mouth of Sabbath time, to stop its speed, that his weekly Jubilee should not fly away so fast. Therefore let not any make this objection of sloth, to say, flesh and blood cannot keep a whole Sabbath: surely such objectours, are part of the world, who know not the meat, the Saints have to eat in the Banquets of the Lord's day. When Peter and the two other Disciples saw Christ in his transfiguration, they would build tabernacles, to fasten their abode. Sabbath Communion, is only a more duskish transfiguration; And why should we tire so soon, when the way is so pleasant!
[unspec 7] In the Primitive times, the reading of the word, and the preaching of the Gospel, took up some part of every day. And Chrysostom took good notice of the profit of that diligent course: Men's minds were more babituated to the things of God, and became richer treasuries of holy truth. It was not then accounted tedious or irksome to spend some time every day with God, for soul advantage. The Primitive Church thought time spent in spiritual converse, their term, not their toil, and the School of Christ was open, not only on a Sabbath, (as Janus his Temple among the Romans, only in a time of peace) but on every day. The worthy Chrysostom highly commends his Auditors, That they turned a day which might have been spent in the service of Satan, into a day with God, in attending on holy Ordinances. This was the spirit of the primitive times, they accounted all time gain and advantage, which was spent in Divine Communion: And indeed this is for Adams posterity to re-enter Paradise. Gregory Nyssen in his second Oration, which he made concerning the Martyrs, makes mention of some things he had instructed his people in, the day before; and in another Oration, bids them call to mind, those things he had delivered before in the week time; this eminent light of the Church evidences in his own practice, that it was the custom of the Church in those times, to enrich the week with many seasons and opportunities of Gospel dispensation; so far were those times from Subpenaeing flesh and blood to attest an incapacity for the services of a whole Sabbath. Augustine in many places of his incomparable works, mentions his daily labors with his people for spiritual edification. So Tom. 2 dus. in Psal. 68. Tract. 16. Joan. Tractat. 18. in Joan. Tract. 22. in Joan. Cyprian was likewise taken up in daily travels with his hearers to promote the increase of their faith and knowledge. Nicephorus reports in his Ecclesiastical History, that Alexander did daily exhilarate the Church with divine Institutions. Indeed these orient times of the Church were made more celebrious, by the painful labors of the Ministers, and the diligent attention of the people every day; for as Chysostome speaks in his tenth Homily upon Genesis; Holy discourses are calculated for every day. No day is incongruous for heavenly Communion. And the learned Father well comports with the sense and language of the holy Apostle, Phil. 3. 20. For our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
But on the Lord's day, in the primitive times, holy duties were multiplied; nay, the Minister must not give over preaching, though the night comes on, if Chrysostom may give in his verdict. Basil in one of his Homilies tells us, That his own course was, to begin his Sermans early on the morning of a Sabbath, and towards the evening to preach a second time: The morning Sermon he called the morning food; and his evening Sermon he styled, his evening joy, which he used to bring to his Auditors: Thus this worthy person made it his triumph to spread morning and evening dainti • s, before the people who came to feed upon them. Nay, thus he speaketh in one of his Homilies, Behold the evening commands me silence, the Sun being now set, yet I judge it fit to lengthen out my discourse, to the time of bed and rest. So unwearied were the Ministers and people in those glory • us times, in holy duties and administrations. Augustine in his second Sermon upon the 88 h Psalm, mentions his reduplicate labors upon God's holy day. The rest of the Lord's day, saith a learned man, must be wholly taken up in divine worship; Then the level of the soul must be wholly heavenward, all diversions to earth or ease are deviations. To mind anything but the soul on the Sabbath, is not impertinency, but impiety. Chrysostom hath an excellent speech, The Sabbath, saith he, is not given us for ease, but for rest, and that rest must be spent in things spiritual: To which is accommodated a speech of another of the Ancients in an Epistle of his, to his brethren in the wilderness; Do not wonder, saith he, if in God's strength I have preached thrice this day. Now to object, flesh and blood cannot keep a whole Sabbath, this is a contradiction to the servant spirit of the primitive Church, this is a spirit fit for the dregs of time.
[unspec 8] Some of the more serious Jews thought the Sabbath but seant measure, and too short a time for soul enlargements. Among the Jews, some began their Sabbath so • ner then others, as those who dwele at Tyberias, because they dwelling in a Valley, the Sun did not appear so soon to them, as it did to others. Some again continued their Sabbath longer; This was done by those who dwelt at Tsephore, a City placed upon the top of a Mountane, so that the Sun did shine longer to them then to others: Hence R. Jose wished, That his portion might be with those, who began the Sabbath with those of Tyberias, and ended it with those of Tsephore. This good man would take the first dawning of a Sabbath, and wait the last appearance, that his soul might enjoy a larger space for communion with God. A gracious soul thinks the longest visits are the sweetest, and duration crowns their fruition. Surely war is sweet, and Sabbaths long, to inexperienced persons.
[unspec 9] But further to discover the nakedness of this objection, and more fully to answer the case, we must take notice, there are great varieties of duties and ordinances to sweeten a Sabbath, and to render it free from all nausea and tediousness. Several Instruments make the Consort, and raise the music to a greater delight and pleasantness. On a Sabbath we do not only say, Give, give, in holy prayer, nor do we only cry with Samuel, speak Lord, for thy servants hear, in hearing of the word: But the duties of a Sabbath, are like the gifts of the spirit, full of diversity, 1 Cor. 12. 4. There are Sacraments to give us a prospect of Christ, Holy meditation to sublimate our souls heavenward, reading of the Scriptures for spiritual instruction, Singing of Psalms in imitation of the Hallelujahs of heaven, spiritual discourses for mutual consolation. Harmony is the Sabbaths melody; and our tiredness in one duty, is removed by the sweetness of another. The Sun with speed and fleetness runs through the twelve signs of the Zodiac, nor is it alw • yes lodged in one house. Variety of things which are excellent, is not a little ground of complacency: variety of choice voices please the ear: variety of curious colors delight the eye; variety of sweet dainties is acceptable to the taste; and so vary • y of holy duties make a Sabbath grateful and complacential. God hath set forth his worship in several services, that it might be the more pleasing, and the less wearisome; Sometimes on a Sabbath we are praying to him for the supply of our necessities; sometimes we are praising of him for his own infinite excellencies. Sometimes the ear is busied in hearing truth, sometimes the hand in giving alms, sometimes the eye in weeping tears, sometimes the knee in doing homage, always the heart in willing obedience: Thus the same meat is dressed several ways to make it more delightful and pleasing to the palate. To see several towns pleaseth the traveler, and makes his journey the less tedious, and the more recreative. In Sabbath worship, the bending of the knee is relieved by the hearing of the ear, and the hearing of the ear by the singing of the tongue, and the service of the tongue may be refreshed and relieved by the contemplations of the mind. So then the Sabbath cannot be tedious, whose duties are so various. Several birds singing, make the Grove a common music room. That soul must needs distaste every Ordinance, which cannot be pleased with variety.
But no further to amplify the vanity of these objectours, who put this case, I shall now a little rectify their mistake, by showing them, how flesh and blood may keep a whole Sabbath spiritually and sweetly to God.
[unspec 1] Let them be earnest in prayer for the spirit of grace: this is that principle which can turn the soul to any point, that spirit which can guide our way, Rom. 8. 1. which can produce the new Creature, John 3. 5. which can fill our sails, John. 3. 8. which can heal our Natures, 1 Cor. 6. 11. which can help our infirmities, Rom. 8. 26. that spirit which can open the eyes to behold, Acts 26. 18. and can open the heart to embrace Gospel mysteries, 1 Cor. 2. 14. that spirit can sweeten Ordinances, and accommodate our souls to them, that the streams of a Sabbath may run smoothly without the stop of weariness, or storm of discontent. The spirit of God can fit our spirits to the things of God; and where there is no disparity, there can be no dissatisfaction. Indeed the Ordinances are the ship, and the spirit is the wind: As the ship of an ordinance cannot move without the wind of the spirit, so the wind of the spirit will not blow without the ship of an Ordinance; but when the wind carries on the ship, it is pleasant and delightful sailing. Therefore let these Objectours beg the spirit, and we have an assured promise to encourage us, Luke 11. 13.
[unspec 2] Let those who put this case (which now hath been ventilated and discussed) consider, our present Sabbaths are only the first fruits of an eternal Sabbath. The Spring is pleasant, though not so fruitful as the Harvest. Our present days of grace have their glory and their verdure, though not elevated to the raptures of heaven; Sabbaths are heavenly days, though not heavenly eternities: Now our Savior bids us rejoice at the putting out of the leaf, for then Summer draws near, Mat. 24. 32. This should silence all scruples of a floathfull heart. Sabbaths are golden, though little spots; they are pensions of grace, though not portions of glory; they are earnests of better things; and he that is to receive the sum, will not easily be weary in telling of the earnest. The Israelites rejoiced in the Clusters, before they came to the Vintage, Numb. 13. 23, 24. Our precious Sabbaths are our clusters of Camphire, before we come to the mountanes of Spices. Think not a Sabbath tedious, which is only a little stream running into the Ocean of Eternal Glory.
[unspec 3] Such should do well to study their wants more, and their ease less: Their necessities call for every Ordinance of Grace, which fills up the time of a Sabbath; their empty cruse calls for the duty of Prayer; their dark understandings call for the Ordinance of hearing; their faint graces call for the feast of a Sacrament, their saddened spirits call for the joyous service of singing Psalms; their ignorant Families call for the duty of Catechizing; and their frail memeries call for the seasonable recruit of Repetition; and when these Services are faithfully and spiritually performed, the time of a Sabbath flies away, and there is no room for the objection of flesh and blood. We are much provoked to see Beggars lie sunning themselves in ease and laziness. Let these Objectors pass industriously and cheerfully through the Ordinances of a Sabbath, or else find some other way for the supply of the necessities of their souls. But thus much for the fourth Case.
[Case. 5] What shall we do, when after our serious attendance upon Ordinances on God's holy day, we taste no sweetness in them, nor reap any advantage from them? It was once the complaint of the Disciples; that they toiled all night, and could catch nothing, Luke 5. 5. The Saints labors in this life are not always successful; they may plow upon a Rock, and sow the Seed, though presently they do not reap the Harvest. Beautiful Rachel was barren for a time, and she who had so much comeliness, had no Child. Answers to prayer are not always on the speed, but sometimes they are suspended; and many wait on God in a Sabbath, and yet in the evening do not carry their sheaves with them, Psal. 126. 6. they may toil all the Sabbath in the fire of Ordinances, and yet not for the present be sensible of their melting and refining power. But what shall be done in this case?
[Answ. 1] Such should examine themselves, whether they bring not too much of the world with them to Sabbath opportunities. Happily when they are at prayer, or any other duty, their thoughts look back, as Lots wife did upon Sodom, and so that duty is, as it were, turned into a pillar of salt, a monument of shame: And so in hearing the Word, they bring the cares of the world with them, and they are thorns which choke the blessed Seed of the Word, Mat. 13. 22. and it becomes altogether unfruitful. And again, worldly thoughts do very unseasonably mix with heavenly duties: we do ill to be in the vale, when we should be on the mount with God; to be supping up the dregs of the world, when we should feed on the marrow, Psal. 63. 5. and drink of the wine well refined in blessed Ordinances; this is to pour contempt upon the provisions of the Sanctuary: To say, our communion is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ on a Sabbath, when yet our hearts are fluttering over the world, this is to delude, not to satisfy the Soul.
[unspec 2] But be it, we can taste no sweetness in Sabbath duties, yet we are bound to continue our diligence; we must observe our duty, though presently we receive not the mercy. It is the badge of Mercenaries to plead, no Recompence, no Obedience. Indeed the recompense of reward may be in our eye, though it be not our end. In the work we do, we may have a love to the reward, though the mere love of the reward doth not attract us to do the work. God is our great Lord and Master, and though it is not servile obedience, yet it is the obedience of Servants we ow him continually, and much more upon his own day. Cassian observes, That he knew a young man, who merely in obedience to his Superiors command, for a whole year together went two miles every day only to pour water on a withered stick. We ought every Lord's day to come under Gospel waterings, though our hearts remain withered and dry, though we feel no softnings or comforting; it is enough, we have a command; the duty is ours, the day is Christ's, who is over all, God above all, blessed forever. It is a favor God will employ us, though he should never reward us. The Angels rejoice that God will engage them in his business, though they receive no new recompense; they are cheerful to increase the duty, though they do not enlarge their glory: The Angels, saith the Apostle, are all ministering spirits sent forth to minister, &c. Heb. 1. 14. This is their property; they think themselves happy, in that God thinks them worthy to do his work in the world: And so must we esteem ourselves honored in conversing with God in Ordinances, though we do not hear the spouts run with the waters of life, and though the fingers of Christ do not drop Myrrh, Cant. 5. 5. nor do we taste the honey-comb in them, Cant. 5. 1. For Ordinances in themselves are as Samson's Lion, with the swarm and the honey in them; they are in their own nature pots of perfume, more reviving then the smokes of incense; and though our resentments be not so quick, yet we must follow the scent. It is a good observation of Chrysostom, As fountains, saith he, send out water, though no pitcher be brought to fetch from them; so Pastors must preach, and Auditors must hear, though no fruit be received: For as to keep Sabbaths is indispensable for men, so to bless them is arbitrary with God. But if God shine not forth from between the Cherubims of holy Ordinances, yet it is incumbent upon us to wait at the door of the Sanctuary, always remembering that subjection is ours, but benediction is his, and he will have mercy, on whom he will have mercy.
[unspec 3] Suppose Sabbaths are not successful to us, what peace or profit can we expect if we lay them aside? Upon the same account all other times of holy duty, and the exercise of Religion may be waved and left off; and then what can there be but a fearful expectation of judgment? Jerome upon that place of the Apostle, Rom. 9. 16. It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy: Sure then, saith he, It is not of him who sleepeth, nor of him that idleth, nor of him who neglects duty, for on such the Lord will have no mercy. And Chrysostom well observes upon that speech of our Savior, Mat. 16. 24. If any will come after me, let him deny himself, &c. Christ saith not as this Father observes, If any man stand still, or sit down; for the Kingdom of God is not given to standers, or to idlers, but to walkers, and to workers. So it may be concluded, the comforts of God are not given to any person, who upon any pretence whatsoever shall omit or neglect his duty, especially upon the Lord's day. For any to pretend, they have performed duties and waited on Ordinances, and yet fail of success; what good success can they expect upon the ceasing of those duties? The Apostle bids us pray without ceasing, 1 Thes. 5. 17. So then we must pray though the blessing do not presently come; we must obey the command though we do not receive the reward. If men may use the means, and yet miss the end, surely such must miss the end, who will not use the means; let none think to better their souls condition, by laying aside Sabbath transactions.
[unspec 4] When Christians have performed Sabbath duties, and do not find such comfortable and desired success in their Gospel communion, Let them smite upon the thigh, and reflect upon themselves. The word is fire, and why am I cold? The word is quickening, and why am I dead? Ordinances are the means of grace, and why have I no grace or comfort by the means? Some are at Sermons and Sacraments with their hearts leaping, and go away with their faces shining, and those who see them, see they have been with Jesus; but why go I mourning all the day? Thus we should put ourselves upon the search and scrutiny. Skilful Physicians search into the cause of distempers, and so should skillful Christians; the wound is searched before cured, and the tent is put in before the balsam. If Ordinances have lost their taste to us, the soul is sick of some distemper: If we cannot be triumphant, let us be inquisitive; if we are not filled with comfort, let us presently feel our pulse. But however, we should set upon amending of duties, but be never prevailed with, for the omitting of duties; we should be as Fishermen when they have caught nothing, then they fall to mending their nets; let us not throw away our nets in discontent. If the Archer shoots short, he shoots again, and directs his arrow more level, and draws his bow with more strength, that if it be possible he may hit the mark: So if we in discharge of Sabbath duties, do miss of desired mercies, let us draw the bow with more strength, stir up ourselves, put more life into duty, and quicken ourselves with more care, that at last we may meet with our beloved, and say with the Spouse, Cant. 3. 4. we have found him whom our souls love. In a word, we must not conclude through human frailties, we will do this days work no further; but we must resolve, through divine assistance, to do the work of the day better.
[unspec 5] Let this reply answer the whole case. The Sabbath-performances of soul-afflicted Saints, though they are not sensibly good, yet they are certainly good and acceptable to God; God seeth that in their aimings, they cannot see themselves in their actings; that which they cannot see in their work, God can see in their will; God knows after what the soul reacheth; surely not after a bare duty, or being in service, but therein after a clearer beholding of God, a closer communion with Christ, to keep a divine intercourse with Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The gracious soul looks not so much after the Ordinances of God, as God in the Ordinances: I know whom ye seek, saith the Angel to the Woemen, Mat. 28. 5. Jesus of Nazareth who was Crucified: there they saw the Sepulcher wherein Christ was laid, and there they saw the linen clothes wherein Christ was wrapped, but all will not satisfy, it was not the Sepulcher of Christ, but Christ who had been in the Sepulcher they sought for: So it is not so much the Sabbath of Christ, as Christ in the Sabbath; not so much the Gospel of Christ, as Christ in the Gospel, the people of God groan after: They cry out almost in the language of Bernard, Lord, unless I give thee myself, it is not all my duties on the Sabbath will satisfy thee; and except thou givest me thyself, it is not all the privileges of the Sabbath will satisfy me. And all this the eye of God sees, and so accepts the sacrifices of his humble people, though they do not smoke with incense to delight them who sacrifice. Philosophers observe, That fire which smokes in the Chimney, is most clear in the Element of it: And so those duties may have a smile from God above who receives them, when happily they give no sweet gust to man below who performs them. In a word, if God accept, let not us with Jonah fret, because we do not taste them. Our services may be a pearl in God's eye, when they are a stone of emptiness in ours; and it is not much material if we sense them to be dross, if God look on them as gold. And thus much for this fifth and last case.
CHAP. XLI. A Charge drawn up against profane Persons, who live down the Sabbath by loose and vicious Practices.
WHen God on Mount Sinai gave the two Tables, wherein the Decalogue was written, the text tells us, Exod. 19. 18. The mountain burnt with fire, and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furuace, and the whole mount quaked greatly: And all this was to cast an awe upon the Jews, that they might serve God with fear and trembling, in keeping those Commandments which were then delivered, and among others, in the holy observation of the blessed Sabbath: And it were well for the world, if still some burning Sinai, some tremendous prospect was exhibited to affect and over-awe the hearts of the people to a due and reverend observation of God's holy day. In nothing more man's heart had need to be shackled, it being so prerient and propense to break the hedge of that sacred inclosure. Some make bold with the name of God in words of profaneness, and some with the day of God in acts of profaneness. Many turn the Sabbath into a Market day of Satan, and like the foolish Israelites, they love to have it so, Jer. 5. 31. How many spend much of the Sabbath in the methods of Pride, in consulting the glass, in fitting the dress, in plaiting the hair, when yet the crookedness of the heart is discerned in the curles of the hair, nay in patching the face, and fashioning the garb, as if they went to the Sanctuary to meet with some amorous lover. Some spend their Sabbath, as the Prodigal did his Estate, Luke 15. 30. with harlots and curtezans, and study more their lust, then their Christ, the sinful embraces of the strange woman, then holy communion with the beloved, Cant. 2. 16. Nay others defile the Sabbath with riots and excesses. Riotous company is their Congregation, healths are their Ordinances, idle Songs are their Psalms; their eyes are filled with fire for their redness, and not with water for their tears, and they are inflamed with commessation, and not devotion. These justly demerit that reproach which the Jews unjustly cast upon the Apostles, Acts 2. 13. They are filled with new wine. Plutarch a heathen Philosopher believed that Sabbatum the Sabbath, was derived from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , which signifies to be riotous and drunken, and the occasion of this derivation of his was, the Jews loose and debauched manners on the Sabbath day. It is strange impiety to sin against the light of nature, and as strange to be loose on a day of grace. To follow vile practices on a precious Sabbath, what is it, but to throw dung upon Roses? The Apostle saith, that they who are drunk, are drunk in the night, 1 Thes. 5. 7. It is too shameful a sin for the day to behold; and Job saith, the Adulterer waits for the twilight, Job 24. 15. These sins need a dark Lanthorn, they avoid and shun the light, least their shame be published by every Spectator: And the Prophet observes, that the Israelites committed their Idolatry in secret; they had their chambers of imagery, Ezek. 8. 12. They would put some covering upon their sin. But how great is our abomination to dabble in our paint, to roll in our vomit, to be inflamed in our lusts, to wallow in our sensualities, and wantonize in our vanities upon God's holy day? When the Sun of Nature and the Sun of Righteousness both shine together to scatter all clouds and covering? It is a pathetical, but a holy speech of a Learned man, Who without mourning can endure to see Christians keep the Lord's day, as if they celebrated a Feast rather to Bacchus, then to the honor of Jesus Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of the world, for having served God an hour or two in outward show, they spend the rest of the Lord's day in sitting down to eat and drink and rising up to play, first ballasting their bellies with eating and drinking, then feeding their lusts in playing and dancing. Against these riots holy Augustine bitterly inveighs, and saith, It is better to spin then to dance on God's holy day.
Indeed, it is an observation of Lactantius: That the Lord's second coming shall be on the Lord's day; And then how little joy shall they have, who shall be overtaken in their carnal sports, when their Master should have found them in their spiritual exercises, on his own day? the profane wretch then will wish, that Christ should find him rather kneeling at prayers in the Sanctuary, then skipping like a Goat in a dance, that he should be found dropping tears like a penitent, rather then drinking healths like a miscreant, or caressing harlots, like an impure Gallant. Sidonius observes, that in the primitive times, some of the Jews did so abuse the Sabbath to gluttony, and drunkenness, and to lascivious dances, that the Ethnics, and heathen suspected, they adored Bacchus, not Jehovah. It is the observation of Dr. Ames, That all sins receive an aggravation on this day: which oftentimes is more then the sin itself, as the die is sometimes more costly then the cloth; To be intemperate, proud, worldly, wanton on a Sabbath, this is to wear the spots of a Leopard, and to be in the hue of an Ethiopian. Some men make the Sabbath a weekly Aequinox their pleasures, and their duties are of equal length; But others drown the whole Sabbath in vanity and excess, as if they would read the 4th. Commandment backward, and would provoke the God of Heaven, to please the God of this world. It may be said to those who thus profane the Lord's day, have ye not days enough of your own, to work or play in, or despise ye the Lord's day? It is a sin, yea, a provoking sin, to use the Lord's Table, as your own table, to eat sacramental bread, as if it was common bread; and is it no sin to use the Lord's day, as if it was a common day? Let us therefore see the image and superscription of Christ engraven upon the Lord's day, and then let us give unto Christ, the things which are Christ's. Cyril complained in his time, That many Christians indulged themselves in luxury, dances, plays, and worldly vanities on the Lord's day; And what, saith he, will be the end of these things, but that God's Name will be derided, and God's day much contemned and scorned? The Apostle calls our walking on any day, in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquettings, working the will of the Gentiles, 1 Pet. 4. 3. It is an heathenish act to adventure upon such unnatural impieties, but to act all these sins upon a Sabbath, it is altogether diabolical; this is to wound a Prince on his Coronation day. Those who profane the Sabbath by scandalous sins, saith Musculus, they sacrifice to Venus, not to God, and serve Satan, not Christ; they neglect life and salvation, and assure to themselves loss and perdition, God's anger is provoked, not appeased, and their manners are not corrected, but corrupted. Let us consider, the two tables of stone, are still tables of testimony, Exod. 31. 18. to witness against the profanation of this holy day. God did not write this Commandment for the Sabbath with his finger, that we should spunge it out by our life, and if we shall attempt it, he can turn the writing, into an hand-writing on the wall against us, which will make not only our knees, but our hearts to tremble, Dan. 5, 6. Let us seriously weigh in the balance, that the beauty of a woman doth but aggravate her wantonness: and the rich man's great estate doth but amplisie his extorsion, and so the holiness of a Sabbath doth die every sin which is acted upon it with a scarlet color: Christ would not suffer the money changers to remain in the temple, Mat. 11. 15. How much worse merchandise is it, when we set our souls to sale on that holy day, which is given for life and salvation? But further to dilate upon the impiety of Sabbath-profaneness.
[unspec 1] To act scandalous sins on God's holy day, is a most daring presumption, it throws God's Memento, with which he prefaced the 4th. Commandment, into his face, and saith to Christ, who is Lord of the Sabbath, Mark 2. 28. we will not have this man to reign over us, Luke 19. 14. God saith, Exod. 20. 8. keep my Sabbath holy; and these daringly reply, we will keep it diabolically. This sin commenceth war with heaven itself, and throws down the Gantlet to the infinite Jehovah. Oleaster very well observes, God had not needed to have fastened a Memento to the 4th. Commandment, to mind us of dances, and revellings, frequenting a ring, or a stage; our own corrupt natures will be officious enough to usher in such pleasurous vanities: Disobedience to other commands, may be termed non-conformity; but, to throw the filth of scandalous practice into the lovely face of a Sabbath, is an impudent opposition of the most High, and as God himself accounts it, the breach of all his Commandments and Laws, Exod. 16. 28. And this, Rivet calls the Israelites stubbornness.
[unspec 2] To pollute the Sabbath with scandalous practices, raises complaints in heaven and earth. When God draws his indictment against Israel, immediately before he sentenced them to the Babylonish captivity, one chief part of their charge was, They profaned his Sabbaths, Ezek. 23. 38. And this he calls profaning of himself, Ezek. 22. 26. which is a strange expression. And for this sin, he brought wrath upon them, Nehem. 13. 18. This provocation opened the sluices of divine fury. There are three things God is very jealous of,
1. Of his worship; And of this he hath taken care in the second Commandment.
2. Of his Name; The glory of which, he hath secured in the third Commandment.
3. Of his Day: Which he hath hedged about with a hedge of thorns, in the fourth Commandment: And when men by their profaneness, break this • edge, he makes his complaints from heaven against this prodigious evil.
In the Primitive times, the universal complaint of the Fathers was against profaning of the Lord's day. Clemens Alexandrinus, complained in his time, That the people after they were gone out of the Church, they laid aside the counterfeit vizard of gravity, and fell to delight and sport themselves in an impious manner, with love-songs, and noise of Minstrels, &c. Augustine called the profanation of the Lord's day, by dancing, Plays, or rev • lling, A Jewish sabbatizing, to be abominated by all good Christians; As if it was a sin not to be named among those, who did wear the livery, and glory in the name of Jesus Christ, who was perfection incarnate, the Beauty and desire of Nations, Hag. 2. 7. The Lord's day, is that Virgin light which must be espoused by holiness, by exact and suitable carriages, and not subjected to the rapes of sin & profaneness: as Gregory Nyssen speaks most piously. Sins which are deeds of darkness, John 3. 19. Ephes. 5. 11. are no way becoming the Sabbath, which is a day of the sweetest light; and therefore we may take notice, that whereas the Evening and the Morning made up