found preaching / and confcionable hearing of the word, in obedience unto God, with understanding, faith and reverence t finging of pfalms with grace in the heart v; as also the due administration and worthy receiving of the sacraments instituted by Christ; are all parts of the ordinary religious worship of God w; hefides réligious oaths x and vowsy, folemn fastings z : they that hear the word of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein; for the time is at hand. 2 Tim. iv. 2. Preach the word, be instant in feafon, and out of feafon; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long fuffering and doctrine. and and hymns, and spiritual fongs, finging and making melody in your, hearts to the Lord. Jam. v. 13. Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him fing pfalms. w Mat. xxviii. 19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. (1 Cor. xi. 23, to Verse 29.) Ads ii. 42. And they continued ftedfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. Jam. 1. 22. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only. deceiving your own' felves. Acts x. 23. Immediately therefore I fent to thee; and thou hast well done, that thou art come. Now therefore are we all here present before God, to bear all things that are commanded thee of God. Mat. xiii. 19. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was fown in his heart: this is he, who receiv-walk in God's law, which was given ed feed in the way fide. Heb. iv. 2. For unto us was the gospel preach ed, as well as unto them: But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. Ifa. Ixvi. 2. For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, faith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. v Col. iii. 16. Let the word of Chrift dwell in you richly in all wifdom: teaching and admonishing one another in pfalms, and hymns, and spiritual fongs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Eph. v. 19. Speaking to yourselves in pfalms, x Deut. vi. 13. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and ferve him, and shalt swear by his name. With Neh. x. 29. They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to by Mofes the fervant of God, and to obferve and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes. y Ha. xix. 21. And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall do facrifice and obla. tion: yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform it, With Eccl. v. 4. When thou vowest a vow unto cod, defer not to pay it. for he hath no pleasure in fools; pay that which thou hast vowed. v. 4. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. z Joel ii. 12. Therefore also now, faith and thanksgivings upon special occasions a, which are, in their several times and seasons, to be used in an holy and religious manner b. VI. Neither prayer, nor any other part of religious worship, is, now under the gospel, either tied unto, or made more acceptable by, any place in which it is performed, or towards which it is directed c: but God is to be worshipped everywhere din spirit and truth e; as in private families f daily, faith the Lord. Turn yeeven to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning. Efth. iv. 16. Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or days; I also and my maidens will faft likewife, and so will I go in unto the king, which is not accord ing to the law; and if I perish, I perish. Mat. ix. 15. And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bride-chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from thein, and then shall they saft. 1 Cor. vii. 5. Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. 4 (Pfal. cvii, throughout.) Esther ix. 22. As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from forrow to joy, and from mourning unto a good day, that they should make them days of teasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor. b. Heb. xii. 28. Wherefore wereceiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may ferve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear. VI. a John iv. 21. Jesus faith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerufalem, worship the Father. d Mal. i. 11. For from the rifing of the fun even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great. among the Gentiles, and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, faith the Lord of hosts. 1 Tim. ii. 8. I will therefore, that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. John iv. 13. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: For the Father seeketh such to worship him. v. 24. God is a Spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth. f Jer. x. 25. Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have. eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and confumed him, and have made his habitation defolate. Deut. vi. 6. And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart. v. 7. And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou fittelt in thine 1 lyg, and in fecret each one by himself b; so more folemnly in the public assemblies, which are not carelefly or wilfully to be neglected or forsaken, when God by his word or providence calleth thereunto i. VII. As stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the fabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; v. 7. Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt-offerings and their facrifices thall be accepted upon mine altar; for thine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. Heb. x. 25. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another; and fomuch the more, as ye see the day approaching. Prov. i. 20. Wildom crieth without, she uttereth her voice in the streets: v. 21. She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, fay thine house, and when thon walk est by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up, Job. i. 5. And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt-offerings, according to the number of them all: for Job faid, It may be that my fons have sinned, and curfed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. 2 Sam. vi. 18. And affoon as. David had made an end o foffering burnt-offerings, and peace-offerings, he blessed the peoplein the name of the Lord of hosts. v. 20. Then David returned to bless his houshold. 1 Pet. ii. 7. Like wife ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife as unto the weak er veffel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your pray-ing, v. 24. Because I have called, ers be not hindered. Aas x. 2. A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alins to the people, and prayed to God alway. g Mat. vi. 11. Give us this day our daily bread. and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded. Prov. viii. 34. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, watching at the posts of my doors. Acts xiii. 42. And when the Jews were gone out b Mat. vi. 6. But thou, when of the synagogue, the Gentiles bethou prayeft, enter into thy closet, fought that these words might be and when thou hast shut thy door, preached to them the next fabbath. pray to thy Father who is in secret, Luke iv, 16. And he came to Na and thy Father who seeth in secret zareth, where he had been brought shall reward thee openly. Eph. vi. up: and, as his custom was, he went 10. Praying always, with all pray- into the fynagogue on the fabbath. er and fupplication in the Spirit, and day, and stood up for to read, Acts watching thereunto with all perfe- ii, 42. And they continued stedfaftverance and fupplication for all faints. ly in the apoftles doctrine, and fellvi. 6. alio the fons of the lowship, in breaking of bread, and Chap. XXI. VII. As it is of the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion of time be fet apart for the worship of God; so, in his word, by a pofitive, moral, and perpetual commandment, binding all men in all ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in seven, for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him: which, from the beginning of the world to the refurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week; and, from the refurrection of Chrift, was changed into the first day of the week 1, which, in fcripture is called the Lord's day m, and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath n. VIII. This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs before-hand, do not only observe an holy rest all the day, from their own works, words and thoughts, about their worldly in prayers. VII. & Exod. xx. 8. Remember the fabbath day, to keep it holy. v. 10. But the seventh day is the fabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy fon, nor thy daughter, thy manfervant, nor thy maid-fervant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger which is within thy gates. V. 11. For in fix days the Lord made heaven and earth, the fea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the fabbath day, and hallowed it. Ifa. Ivi. 2. Bleffed is the man that doth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the fabbath from polluting it, and keep eth his hand from doing any evil. V. 4. For thus faith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my fabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant. -v. 6, 7. (See in letter i.) / Gen, ii. 2. And on the seventh vday, God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the -feventh day from all his work which he had made. ver. 3. And God blefled the seventh day and fanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work, which God created and made. Cor. xvi. 1. Now concerning the collection for the faints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do yè. v. 2. Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath profpered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. Acts. xx. 7. And upon the first day of the week, when the difciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow, and continued his speech until midnight. " In Rev. i. 10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet. n Exod. xx. 8, 10. (See lettet k.) With Mat. v. 17. Think not that I am come to deftroy the law or the prophets; I am not come to deftroy, but to fulfil: v. 18. For verily I fay unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wife pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. VIII. Exod. worldly employments and recreations 0; but also are taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his wor VIII. o Exod. xx. 8. (See letter k.) Exod. xvi. 23. And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath faid, to morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord; bake that which you will bake, to day, and seethe that ye will feethe: and that which remaineth over, lay up for you to be kept until the morning. v. 25. And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a fabbath unto the Lord: to day ye shall not find it in the field. v. 26. Six days ye shall gather it, but on the seventh day which is the fabbath, in it there fhall be none. v. 29. See, før that the Lord hath given you the fab bath, therefore he giveth you on the fixth day the bread of two days: abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the feventh day. v. 30. So the people retted on the feventh day. Exod. xxxi. 13 15. Six days may work be done, but in the seventh is the sabbath of reft, holy to the Lord: who foever doth any work in the fabbath day, he shall furely be put to death. v. 16. Wherefore the chil. dren of Ifrael shall keep the fabbath, to observe the fabbath throughout. their generations, for a perpetual covenant, v. 17. It is a sign be tween me, and the children of If. rael for ever: for in fix days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed. Ifa. lviii. 13. If thou turn away thy foot from the fabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the fabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable, and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor find. ship, ing thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words. Neh. xiii. 15. In those days saw 1 in Judah, fome treading wine presses on the fabbath, and bringing in theaves, and leading asses; as alfo wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burthens, which they brought into Jerufalem on the fabbath day; and I testified against them in the day wherein they fold victuals. v. 16. There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, who brought fish, and all manner of ware, and fold on the fabbath, unto the children of Judah, and in Jerufalem. v. 17. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and faid unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and prophane the fabbath day? v. 18. Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Ifrael, by profaning the sabbath. v. 19. And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerufalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the fabbath; and some of my fervants fet I at the gates, that there should no burthen be brought in on the fabbath day. v. 21. Then I teftified against them, and faid unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? If ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on the fabbath. v. 22. And I commanded the Levites, that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to fanctify the fabbath day. Remember rd me |