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cessities, but to increase his store; and, that he did not gather a few sticks, but a large quantity; which cannot be pretended to be a work of necessity.

(3.) It is not unlikely, that the man made a practice of it, for several Sabbaths together; and so lived in a total contempt and neglect of God's public ordinances.

(4.) It is also reasonable to suppose, that he did this presumptuously, publicly, and in defiance of the divine command, after having been reproved for it; and he might obstinately vindicate this wicked practice, and resolve, for the future, to persist in it; for that is the nature of a presumptuous sin. And it is plain, that he sinned presumptuously therein; inasmuch as God, in the verses immediately foregoing, had threatened, that the soul that doth ought presumptuously, or, as it is in the margin, with an high hand, who reproached the Lord herein, should be cut off, and then this account of the man's being stoned for gathering sticks on the Sabbath-day, is brought in as an instance of a just punishment of a presumptuous sin

ner.

These things being duly considered, we cannot take occasion from hence, to conclude, as many do, that there is this difference between the legal and the gospel-dispensation, in that the Sabbath was formerly to be observed more stictly than now; and that this was a part of the yoke which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear, the relaxation whereof is reckoned a branch of that liberty which we have under the gospel. But this sounds very ill in the ears of all serious Christians, who think the duties of religion, and the strictness of our obligation thereunto, a privilege rather than a burden. Thus concerning the lawfulness of our performing works of necessity on the Sabbath-day.

We proceed farther to consider, that works of mercy ought to be done on that day; such as visiting and preparing medicines for the sick, relieving the poor, providing food and water for cattle, and other brute creatures. This our Saviour vindicates by his practice, and illustrates by asserting the necessity of lifting out a sheep, that was fallen into a pit, on the Sabbath-day, Matt. xii. 10-13. However, when we maintain the lawfulness of performing works of necessity and mercy, on the Sabbath-day, the following cautions ought to be attended to;

[1.] Let the necessity be real, not pretended; of which, God and our own consciences are the judges.

[2.] If we think that we have a necessary call to omit, or lay aside our attendance on the ordinances of God, on the Sabbath-day, let us take heed that this necessity be not brought on us by some sin committed, which gives occasion to the

judicial hand of God; and that province, which renders it necessary for us to absent from them, should be rather submitted to, than matter of choice or delight.

[3.] If necessity obliges us to engage in secular employments on the Lord's day, as in the instances of those whose business it is to provide physic for the sick, let us, nevertheless, labour after a spiritual frame, becoming the holiness of that day, so far as may consist with what we are immediately called to do.

[4.] As we ought to see that the work we are engaged in is necessary; so we must not spend more time therein than what is needful.

[5.] If we have a necessary call to engage in worldly matters, whereby we are detained from public ordinances, `we must endeavour to satisfy others, that the providence of God obliges us hereunto; that so we may not give offence to them, or they take occasion, without just reason to follow their own employments; which would be a sin in them.

IV. We are to sanctify the Sabbath, by spending the whole day in the public and private exercises of God's worship, and herein to maintain a becoming holy frame of spirit, from the beginning of the day to the end thereof. Therefore,

1. In the beginning thereof; let not too much sleep makeintrenchments on more of the morning of the day than what is needful, particularly, more than what we allow ourselves before we begin our employments on other days. And let us begin the day with spiritual meditations, and carefully watch against worldly thoughts, as what will give us great interruption and hinderance in the work thereof. And let us be earnest with God in prayer, that he would prepare our hearts for the solemn duties we are to engage in; let us consider the Sabbath as a very great talent that we are entrusted with; and that it is of the greatest importance for us to improve it, to the glory of God and our spiritual advantage.

2. While we are engaged in holy duties, especially in the public ordinances of God's worship, let us endeavour to maintain a becoming reverence, and filial fear of God, in whose. presence we are, and a love to his holy institutions, which are instamped with his authority. Let us moreover watch and strive against the first motions and suggestions of Satan, and our corrupt hearts, endeavouring to divert us from, or disturb us in holy duties. And let us often lift up our hearts to God, by spiritual, short ejaculatory prayers, for help from him, to enable us to improve the word, and, at the same time, endeayour to our utmost, to affect our hearts with a sense of the great worth of gospel-opportunities. Let us also cherish, improve, and bless God for all the influences of his Holy Spirit, VOL. III. 3 S

which he is pleased, at any time, to grant to us; or bewail and lament the want thereof, when they are withheld."

3. In the intervals between our attendance on the ordinances of God's public worship, we are to engage in private duties, and worship God in, and with our families; and in order hereunto, call to mind what we have heard, impress it on our own souls, recommend it to those whom we converse with, and are concerned for; and take heed that we do nothing, between one public ordinance and another, which may unfit us for the remaining duties of the day; but, on the other hand, strive against, and give a check to the least motions thereof in our own souls.

4. The Sabbath is to be sanctified in the evening thereof, when the public ordinances are over; at which time we are to call to mind what we have received from God, with thankfulness, and how we have behaved ourselves in all the parts of divine worship, in which we have been engaged. Let us enquire, whether the Sabbath was welcome to us, and we rejoiced in it as a blessing, as well as set about the observing of it as a duty as the Psalmist says, 'I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord,' Psal. cxxii. 1. Moreover, let us enquire, whether our ends were right in all the duties we performed? whether the glory of God, and the good of our own souls, has been our great concern? Or, whether we have been only influenced by custom, and rested in a form of godliness, without regarding the power thereof, and loved the opinion and praise of men more than of God? Let us enquire, whether our minds, our affections and outward gestures have been grave, sedate, and composed, and we ready to receive whatever God has been pleased to impart in his word? and whether we have had a due sense of the divine perfections impressed on our spirits, and of the infinite distance there is between the great God and us? whether we have seen our need of the word, as Job says, that he esteemed the words of God's mouth more than his necessary food? Job xxiii. 12. and, whether we have not only attended to, but applied every truth to our own souls, as desiring to retain, improve, and make it the rule of our conversation?

We are also to consider, what we have received from God under his ordinances; whether we have had any sensible communion with him, any experiences of his love, or impressions of his power on our hearts? whether we have had fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ? whether, as we have gone from one ordinance to another, we have gone from strength to strength, our faith being more lively, our love to God increased, and our spiritual joy enlarged by every duty? Let us enquire, whether we have learned some doctrine from

the word, which we understood not, or, at least, have been more confirmed therein, after some degree of wavering, or have been affected with some truth which we never saw such a beauty and glory in before? whether we have been melted under the word; if it has been, as the prophet speaks, like fire; or, as the hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces, Jer. xxiii. 29. or, as the disciples say one to another, Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? Luke xxiv. 32.

And we may comfortably conclude, that we have received good under the ordinances, if we have been brought into an holy and lively frame of spirit; and the more we attend to them, the more our hearts are drawn forth to desire and delight in them; and especially when public duties fit us for private, and from the advantage that we receive from such opportunities, we are more disposed to walk with God in all the affairs and businesses of life, so that our whole conversation in this world, receives a tincture from the benefit which we gain by that communion which we enjoy with God in his ordinances on his own day.

Thus we are to take a view of our behaviour when engaged in public worship; and if we have received any spiritual advantage, the glory thereof is to be given to God. But if, on the other hand, upon a strict and impartial enquiry into the frame of our spirits under the ordinances, we have, as it too often happens, reason to complain of our deadness and stupidity under them; if we have not experienced that sensible communion with God, which we have at other times enjoyed, or have reason to say, that we wax worse, rather then better, under them; let us dread the consequence hereof, lest this should issue in a judicial hardness of heart, and habitual unprofitableness, under the means of grace. We ought, in this case, to search out, and be humbled before God, for that secret sin, which is as a root of bitterness which springs up within us, and troubles us; and be still pressing after that special presence of God in his ordinances, that will have a tendency to promote the life and power of religion in our souls.

And to this we may add; that besides our dealing thus with ourselves in our private retirements, after having attended on public worship, we are to endeavour to sanctify the Sabbath in our families, in the evening thereof. Family-worship is to be neglected no day; but on the Sabbath, it is to be engaged in with a particular relation to the duties which we have been performing in public; accordingly it is mentioned in one of the answers we are explaining, that the charge of keeping the Sabbath is directed to the governors of families, and other superiors; inasmuch as they are bound, not only to keep it

themselves, but to see that it be observed by all those who are under their charge, and not to hinder them, as many are prone to do, by employing them in those works which are foreign to the duties of the day. Masters of families are not only to restrain immoralities in those who are under their care, on the Sabbath-day, but to lay their commands on them, to engage with them in the worship of God therein, as they expect a blessing from him on their undertakings. Thus Joshua resolves, that he and his house would serve the Lord, Josh. xxiv. 15. and God speaks to the honour of Abraham, when he says, I know him that he will command his children and his household after him; and they shall keep the way of the Lord, Gen. xviii. 19. Superiors have no power to dispense with any of God's commandments, to disengage those who are under them, from yielding obedience thereunto. But, on the other hand, they are obliged to see that all, under their care, perform their duty to God, as well as to them, and, particularly, that of sanctifying the Sabbath. Therefore they are to restrain them from taking their own diversions, or finding their own pleasure in sinful recreations on the Lord's day; and impress on them those suitable exhortations, that may have a tendency to promote religion in their families; by which means they may hope for a peculiar blessing from God, in every relation and condition of life.

QUEST. CXIX. What are the sins forbidden in the fourth Commandment?

ANSW. The sins forbidden in the fourth Commandment, are, all omissions of the duties required, all careless, negligent, and unprofitable performing of them, and being weary of them, all profaning the day by idleness, and doing that which is in itself sinful, and by all needless works, words, and thoughts about worldly employments and recreations. QUEST. CXX. What are the reasons annexed to the fourth Commandment the more to enforce it?

ANSW. The reasons annexed to the fourth Commandment, the more to enforce it, are taken from the equity of it, God allowing us six days of seven for our own affairs, and reserving but one for himself, in these words, [Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work,] from God's challenging a special propriety in that day, [The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God] from the example of God, who, in six days made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is

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