and my God? Shall I be fatisfied in this ftate? No, I will look after them with a longing eye; I'll ly knocking at the gate till God open to let me in; I'll ftill pant, breathe, and cry, O Lord, how long! How is my pilgrimage prolonged! How am I detained in this valley of tears, wandering in the dark, and can fcarce get any fight of Canaan! When fhall the days of my banish. ment be finished, that I may get home to my country and friends above? O when fhall I fit at the fountainhead, and drink plentifully, of the living ftreams that make glad the city of God?"

O believer, rejoice in the forethoughts of that day, when thou shalt meet with thy Father and thy brethren, and when thou shalt fee thy elder Brother on the throne ready to pass fentence in thy favours. O how sweet will it be, when he is frowning and thundering against the wicked, to see him turn and fmile on thee as thy Redeemer O what love will be in his looks! what melody will that fentence found in thy ears, ❝ Come, ye bleffed of my Father!" &c. How ravishing a furprife, O believers, will it be to meet with your godly acquaintances, with whom ye prayed, praised, and converfed here! O then, may ye rejoice together and say, "This voice of joy we now hear, is not like our old groans and complaints, nor like the oaths, curfes, and reproaches our ears were grated with on earth. What is become of our hard hearts, our worldly unbelieving hearts? Where are all our lufts, corruptions, tenta-tions and burdens now? What is become of a body of death, indwelling fin that lay fo long on us a dead weight? What is become of the church's enemies we often complained of?" O! these are all gone, they fhall trouble you no more; you fhall triumph over them, as Ifrael did on the other fide of the Red fea, when they faw the Egyptians drowned and lying dead upon the fhore: Thefe Egyptians, O believer, whom thou once faweft to thy great vexation and trouble," thou fhalt fee them again no more."

I might mention many other fubjects of meditation proper for the Sabbath; fuch as the evil of fin, the vanity of the world, the worth of the foul, the fuffer

X 2

ings

ings of Chrift, the last judgment, and many others, which the fermons you hear that day will bring to your remembrance: But, fearing that I have been too tedious already upon this head, I muft pafs them, and proceed to another private duty neceffary on the Lord's day, which is, IV. Self-examination.

This duty is near of kin to the former, it being a fort of reflexive meditation, the mind turns inward and communes with itfelf, according to Pfal. iv. 4. It is abfolutely neceffary that we fhould take fome time to commune with ourselves, and afk what we are, what we have been, and what we have done, Jer. viii. 6. And is not the Sabbath a fit time for this duty, when we retire from the noise of the world, and are not difturbed with fecular affairs? This is a most important duty, and nearly concerns our eternal well-being; but yet it is a duty very much neglected. Many have lived. fifty or fixty years in the world, that never spent one hour in communing with their own hearts: There are many going out of the world, who never yet began to enquire why they came into it, and never yet afked the question at their fouls, Are you to flit hence, or live here for ever? Why came you hither, and where are you to lodge when you go hence? Many live in a crowd of worldly business, are hurried from one thing to another, leap out of their beds to the world in the morning, and from the world to their beds again at night, and fo never find one minute on the week days to take their foul afide; and for the Sabbath, though they have time for it, yet such is their averfion to the work, they shift it all they can, and avoid meeting with themselves; they rather converfe with any in the world, than with their own hearts. It is against felf love and carnal ease, for a man to turn his own accufer and judge: Therefore many would rather drudge and toil their bodies whole days and weeks at the foreft labour, ere they spent one quarter of an hour at this exercise;~ and fo they live their whole lives ftrangers to themfelves. We would think it strange to hear of two men that converfed every day for fifty or fixty years fpace,

and

and yet all this while did not know one another; and yet this is the cafe betwixt many and their fouls; for as long as they have lived together, they are utterly unacquainted, they never turn inward to converse with themselves, they have no ferious thoughts about their own state or condition. It is faid of the rich man in the parable, Luke xvi. that in hell he lift up his eyes," as if he had never confidered nor bethought himfelf till that time; and indeed it is the want of retired confideration, and people's ferious bethinking of themfelves, that is the ruin of many thousands. O then, refolve in God's ftrength, that, in fpite of the devil and your own corruption, you and your fouls fhall have a meeting, and live no longer afunder; that ye will imitate David, Pfal. exix. 59. " I thought on my ways, "I and turned my feet unto thy teftimonies." Seeing then you have free time for this duty on the Lord's day, take your fouls afide, and enquire into their state; fay, "O my foul, where art thou? Art thou under a covenant of works, or a covenant of grace? Doft thou belong to Chrift's family or the devil's? Art thou in the narrow or broad way? Suppofe I fhould die this night, (for God knows if ever I fhall fee the morrow's light) what hope will I have in a dying hour? Where will death land me? Whether with God in heaven, or with devils in hell? Would Chrift fmile on me in the dark valley, or be my Advocate at Ged's bar? Is there any faving change yet wrought on my heart and life by a work of converfion? God forbid I undergo my great and final change till this happy change be wrought. Can I fay, I am not the man that once I was; ance I was blind, but now I fee?" Study and enquire into the marks of the converted and unconverted, with the greatest seriousness and anxiety of foul, and fee which of them you can apply to yourfelf; cry, that God may open a window in your breast, to let you fee into your own heart, and foul's state; and, whatever you be deceived in, beg it of him, that he may not fuffer you to be deceived in this momentous point, where your foul and your all is at the fake. And, if you find yourself in a bad ftate," give no reft to your eyes, no flumber

to

to your eye-lids," till, in God's strength, you refolve on a thorough change.

Lafly, It is incumbent on every private Chriftian on the Lord's day, to practife the works of charity and mercy, both to the fouls and bodies of men. Study to promote the edification of others by good counfels, inftructions, admonitions, and reproofs. Comfort the afflicted, fupply thofe that are in ftraits, vifit the fick and those that are in mifery. These are proper duties on the Sabbath, and God is highly pleafed with them, James i. 27. If we practise these duties confcientiously, we may both do good and get good; we may both give direction and comfort to the diftreffed, and receive instruction and comfort to ourselves: Though we may not enquire at the dead, yet we may learn many wholesome lessons from the dying. And would to God that both the perfons vifiting and visited were more fpiritual in their converfe than ordinarily they are! for then this duty would be found very edifying and profitable. But if, when we vifit the fick this day, we spend the time in worldly difcourfe, and not for the fpiritual advantage of the fick, and others prefent, we profane the Sabbath, instead of fanctifying it.

Do we fee fome oppreffed by continual lumbering and fleeping, when death is fuppofed to be near, fo that they cannot think on their everlasting state? Let this teach us to remember our latter end and awake our fouls to their work, while we are in health.

Do we fee others troubled with ravings? let it teach us to employ our reason for our fouls advantage while we have the use of it.

Do we fee fome fadly difcompofed with extreme pains and agonies? let it mind us to dispatch our work while health and ease remain with us.

Do we obferve their fight failing, tongue faultering, or hearing growing worfe? O let this teach us to "make a covenant with our eyes," and turn them

away from beholding vanity;" to ufe our tongues. for God's glory, and beware of abusing them now, while we have the ufe of them; and to employ our ears for hearing fpiritual inftructions, while they are in case for it. DIRECTION

DIRECTION III.

Concerning the Special Order, Method and Manner, wherein the Duties of the Sabbath are to be performed..

THE

THE Lord requires us, not only to take heed to the matter of our duties, but also to the manner of them; not only to do what is good, but to do it well. As we must feek God in due ordinances, so we must feek him in a due order, 1. Chron. xv. 13. Very much depends upon the circumstances of our actions, therefore we must look narrowly to them.

That we may take a view of the fanctification of the Sabbath complexly, and the order and circumftances of the duties therein required; there are three things to be confidered:

1. What is requifite in order to prepare for the Sabbath, before it come.

2. What is requifite in performing the duties of the Sabbath when it is come.

3. What is requifite at the end of the Sabbath, or when the work thereof is over.

I. Concerning our Preparation for the Sabbath.

AS to the first, that it is needful to prepare for the Sabbath, cannot be denied, if we confider the word remember prefixed to the commandment," Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy." We must remember it before it come, fo as to provide far it.. Mofes calls the people, Exod. xvi. 23. to mind that " to-morrow is the reft of the holy Sabbath."

Again, if we confider the nature of the Sabbathwork, and our unfitness for it, preparation for it will be found very needful. We are called this day to make folemn and near approaches to that God, who is a glo. rious Spirit, and to hold communion with him who is infinitely holy; and is it not very necessary that we, who are naturally carnal, and much involved in worldly bufinefs through the week, fhould endeavour to abstract our thoughts from earthly things, that we may draw