Directions) I fay, where no exprefs Law of God hath interpofed, there it is the wifeft Way to comply with our own Inclinations, and not needlefly to cross and teaze our felves. By this Means we shall make Religion and Devotion, by degrees, natural, and easy, and pleasant to us, and in a great measure avoid that Coldness of Affection, thofe Wandrings of Thought, that Tediousness, and Dulness, and Drinefs of Spirit, which the unneceffary Restraint and Obligations that Men lay upon themfelves in these Matters, are oftentimes the Occafion of.

And this is all that I have to fay upon this Cafe.

Confider what ye have heard, and the Lord, &c.

SERMON

254

SERMON XII.

EXODUS XX. 8.

Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy.

IS Majefty, in his late Letter to H the Bishops, requires, That all the Clergy be ordered to preach frequently against those particular Sins which are moft prevailing in this Realm; as namely, against Blafphemy, Swearing and Curfing, against Perjury, against Drunkenness, and against Profanation of the Lord's Day: And that they do alfo read to their People, fuch Statute Law, or Laws, as are provided against that Vice or Sin which is their Subject on that Day.

I intend, at this Time, to treat of one of these Arguments; namely, that which concerns the Obfervation of the Lord's-day; and for that Reafon the Statute that con

cerns

cerns this Matter was now read to you, and I fhall go on with the reft of the Things as I have Opportunity.

The Text I have chofen is the Beginning of the Fourth Commandment, which all we of this Church muft needs own to be a Law that obligeth us, because at the Repetition of it by the Minifter, which is done every Sunday and Holy-day, we do all make this Response: Lord have Mercy upon us, and incline our Hearts to keep this Law.

Now, if there be any thing obliging in that Commandment, it is this, Remember the Sabbath-Day, to keep it holy; for that is the Sum and Subftance of the Commandment: All the other Things there mention'd are but either an Account of the Reason why the Seventh-day is thus to be kept holy, or elfe an Account of the Manner how it was to be kept holy.

My Argument then is the Sabbath-day, and in treating of it, I fhall divide my Difcourfe into Four Parts.

The First shall be about our Obligation to obferve the Sabbath in General.

The Second fhall be about the Tranflation of the Sabbath from the Seventh-day of the Week to the Firft.

The Third shall be about the great Neceffities and Advantages of ftrictly obferving the Lord's-day, which is our Sabbath.

The

The Fourth fhall be about the Manner of obferving it.

I begin with the First Head concerning our Obligation to obferve the Sabbath in General, and this will be more than enough to entertain our Meditations at this Time. And here I am fenfible I am entring into a Field of Controverfy, where my Bufinefs will not fo much be to warm your Affections, as to difpute and argue; but tho' my Argument leads me to talk drily, yet I fhall endeavour to talk as plainly as

I can.

For the preventing and avoiding Difputes, as much as can be, I defire to premise these Three Things.

First of all, When we talk of our Obligation to obferve the Sabbath, we own that we use the Word Sabbath in a very improper Sense: For the Sabbath, as it is always ufed, both in Scripture and Ecclefiaftical Writers, is conftantly appropriated to the Jewish Sabbath, or Saturday; and therefore it is with fome Abfurdity that a great many among us do call our Lord's-day by the Name of the Sabbath-day. If any Foreigner heard us exprefs our felves fo, they would verily believe we meant Saturday, and not Sunday: But however, fince it is cuftomary among us to call our Lord's Day by the Name of the Sabbath-day, I do not refrain the Ufe of it, especially at this Time, when I am not treating of the parti

cular

cular Day we are to obferve, but of a Day of Reft in general, which may properly enough be called a Sabbath, on what Day foever it fall; for Sabbath fignifies no more than a Day of Rest.

There are two Things to be distinguished in the Sabbath, as it is ufed in Scripture. Firft, That Portion of Time in general, that is to be fet apart for the more folemn Worfhip of God; and that is, one Day in the weekly Revolution, or one Day in Seven.

Secondly, That precife particular Day in the Seven, that was thus to be fet apart. Now under the Jewish Difpenfation, that was the laft Day of the Week; but under the Chriftian Difpenfation, it is the first Day of the Week: So that we may properly enough, when we speak in general, of a Day of Reft in a weekly Revolution, call it a Sabbath; tho' the particular Day, on which we Chriftians reft, is not fo properly the Sabbath as the Lord's Day.

Secondly, whatever Weight I lay upon the Obfervation of the Sabbath, yet I do not fetch it from any Obligation that is upon us from any of Mofes's Laws in this Matter. The Laws that God gave upon Mount Sinai by Mofes, did never concern any but the Children of Ifrael, and those that dwelt among them: Nor were they ever defigned or intended to be Laws to any other Nation, and therefore the Ten Commandments themfelves, as they were VOL. IV. S deliver'd