charges? Say not then, I have no ftrength for so many duties as are required upon the Sabbath. Is there not enough in Chrift for thee? Look with an eye of faith to the power and promife of God in Chrift, and every new duty will bring new ftrength with it; " they that do thofe things fhall live in them."

VI. Hardnefs of heart hinders the fanctification of the Sabbath. Why? hard hearted finners can have no delight in Sabbath-work; they are not affected by the word; they cannot prize Chrift offered in the gospel; they are not capable of receiving the gofpel-comforts. Oh how many fuch do every Sabbath appear before God! who can fit and hear the moft terrible threatenings of the word, and curfes of the law denounced against fin, and the fins they are guilty of; and yet be no more concerned than the feats they fit on, or the dead that lie under their feet. Mercies or promifes do not allure them, judgments or threatenings do not alarm them. This is a fad cafe, and yet very common, and few fenfible of it. Who is complaining of this plague, of heart-hardness, and laying their cafe before God, faying, "Ah! what fhall I do with this ftone in my heart?" Aftone in the bladder, or kidney, is a woeful pain, but the stone in the heart is much more dangerous and deadly; yet who is pained with that and crying to the Physician of fouls to take it away, and give a heart of flesh?

O hard-hearted finner, confider thy miferable condi tion while thou remainest in a fallen ftate under wrath. Many a ftroke has been given thee by the hammer of the word to no purpofe; many of the Spirit's motions haft thou refifted; many a knock haft thou defpifed. O tremble, left God give thee over, and take no more pains on thee. A heathen Felix trembled, the devils tremble for fear of God's wrath; and will thy heart be unmoved? God calls you to flee from it, ministers call, mercies and promifes call, judgments and threatenings call, the wounds and blood of Chrift call; and will not thy heart be affected?" The voice of the Lord is powerful, full of majesty, breaketh the cedars, shaketh the wilderness," hath melted the hearts of thoufands;

and

and yet cannot it break thy hard heart? Thou haft mountains of unpardoned guilt lying on thee, and hast thou no feeling thereof? Remember, if you be not brought to feeling now, you fhall be brought to it ete long, to your eternal coft and forrow; if the word do not waken thy heart, it is like, death will. When you begin to draw by the curtain of flesh, and look into eternity, you will then cry, Lord, what will become of me for ever? If you do not awake, then to be fure the first moment of your entry into eternity will bring you to your fenfes; the bitings of the worm of confcience will then make you feel; the ftream of fire and brimftene will melt the hardeft heart; the hammer of justice will then break the heart, which the hammer of the word could not.

O then, beg of God, with the greatest earnestnefs, that he may give you "the broken heart and a contrite fpirit," that fo you may have that acceptable facrifice to offer to him, which he never yet frowned upon, Pfal. li. 17. A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not defpife." Auguftine caufed write this text over his bed when fick. Let us cry to God for it, who alone can give it. Gravel ftones men may remove, but heart ftones none can remove but God: We may as eafily remove mountains as do this; yet we must use the means: And therefore," look to him whom you have pierced, that you may mourn. Think much on the free love of Chrift, and the bloody fufferings your fins did put him to. If Chrift's love and blood will not foften thy heart, nothing will. Beg the Spirit of God to come and make application of the blood of Christ, the bleffed Scape-goat; and then the adamantine heart will diffolve. Cry, "Come, O Spirit of God, blow the fire of the word with thy own breath, and then it will melt hearts: Take this hammer in thy own hand, and it will break rocks. Lord, wound and heal; do the work thoroughly and effectually; begin it, carry it on and finish it: For if any of it be left for me to do, it will be eternally undone, and I will be loft for ever. Lord, complete this work, loofe my bonds, thaw my affections, and draw my heart, and take eternal glory to thee" Kk 2

VII.

VII. Hypocrify and formality in duty is opposite to Sabbath fanctification; for God requires heart-fincerity in every piece of worship and duty that we perform. Yet, O how many are they who give God no more but the outward man, and the fervice of the body! They "draw nigh to God with their lips" only; they pray fo fuperficially, as if they were unwilling that God fhould hear them, and take away that luft which confcience forces them to pray against. They are fo carelefs and irreverent in fecret prayer, they would be afhamed if any faw them, or overheard them. A statue on a tomb, with eyes and hands lifted up, offers as good fervice as many; only it wants a voice: And what fignifies the voice without the affections? A parrot may be taught to repeat fome few words of prayer, but none will call that a prayer; fo neither will God own thy formal words for prayer. It is fpeaking, and not praying, when the heart is wanting; he looks upon thy worship as no better than a flage-play. Many worship God as carelessly as if they were "praying to an idol," that neither faw nor heard them: Nay, many heathens have worshipped their falfe gods, Jupiter and Mars, with greater feriousness and devotion than you do the great JEHOVAH, who made you and all the world. Why? the reafon of all this is, all that many feek of religion is the name of it; and the outward form of it makes them pafs under the name of good Chriftians among men. Though God fees their hypocrify, yet man knows it not; and that is enough to them. O hypocrite, confider the day is approaching when God will unmask thee before all the world. As Paul faid to the high priest, Acts xxiii. 3. fo may 1 fay to thee, "God fhall imite thee, thou whited wall;" fo as thy paint fhall fall off, and thy inward rottennefs appear to all. There will be no hiding of thyself among the crowd, no impofing on an all-seeing God. He can eafily difcern a traiterous Judas under a deceitful kiss, a ravening wolf under a sheep's skin, a murdering Herod under a pretence of worship, a hypocritical Pharifee under a broad phylactory. He can fpy a diffembling devil under a Samuel's mantle, or when he would

But,

fhroud

shroud himself among the fons of God; for neither the fophiftry of men or devils can blind his eyes.

Again, let the hypocrite think on his folly, in lofing both his heaven here and hereafter, in drawing down. upon him both the hatred of the world and the hatred of the God of heaven. The world hates him for his fhew of religion, and God hates him for his hypocrify. in it. Is it not lamentable folly in hypocrites to do fomething for Chrift, and go fome length in the way to heaven, and yet to lofe both Chrift and heaven for not going one step further? To be like that feribe, Mat. xii. 34.not far from the kingdom of God," and yet never come thither? How fad is it to perifh with heaven in view, and go to hell by the very gates of glory? The hypocrite's hope brings him to the fhady valley, Job xvii. 14. but his candle goes out in that dark trance, and then he fumbles and falls for ever. It is fad to perish in the wildernefs, when come to the very brink of Jordan, and in fight of the promifed land; to make our voyage with a pleafant gale all the way, and fhipwreck at the very mouth of the harbour; to come within a step of the gate, and die with our hands upon the threshold.

Laftly, Remember, as hypocrify, if continued in, will certainly damn you; fo it will provide a hotter hell for you than that of other finners, Matt. 24. 51. therefore be wife in time, and ftudy fincerity and uprightness of heart in all your dealings with God."

VIII. Wandering of heart greatly mars the performance of Sabbath duties, especially hearing, praying, and praifing. Jewish rabbies fav, "That though on the Sabbath there was much fleth used for facrifice in the temple, yet not fo much as one fly was feen ftirring. there." So neither fhould there be a wandering thought or eye allowed, when we are about God's folemn wor fhip this day in his houfe. What encouragement hath a hufbandman to fow upon a high-way, where every man and beast has free paffage? No better is the heart of a wandering hearer: We may as well caft feed upon the waves of the fea, as preach unto fuch; for the good feed of the word is quite loft upon them. Think

what.

what an affront it would be to a king, to turn your back to him, or difcourfe with others, while he is speaking to you? The motions and postures of your fouls are as vifible to God, as the motions and postures of your bodies are to one another. Or, if a criminal were allowed to petition his prince for his life, would he break off at every fentence, and chafe flies through the room; you would fay, a remiflion were ill beftowed upon fuch a creature. O beware of fuch a ridiculous behaviour before the King of heaven, when you are addreffing him for the life of your condemned fouls. Would you have God to hear you, when you do not hear yourfelf? Can you think he will be mindful of you, when you are not mindful of yourself? Think, if your prayers were written down, and all your vain thoughts interlined, what incoherent nonfenfe would they be? would you not be afhamed to hear them all read over? would not the world cry, "Shame upon you for mocking your dread Sovereign with fuch an impertinent addrefs?" O but thoughts are the fame as words with God; nay, they fpeak louder in his ears than words do in ours, Amos iv. 13. "He declares unto man what is his thought." And David fays. "He tells my wanderings.

Wherefore when you enter this day into the fanc tuary, or into your clofets, hut the door of your heart, fo that worldly thoughts may not enter to trouble you. Lay folemn obligations and charges upon your hearts, that they wander not from God; bind the facrifice with cords to the altars horns; and if the birds of prey come by surprise down upon the sacrifice, then, like Abraham, Gen. xv. 11. "drive them presently away," and fummon every thought to attend your main bufinefs. tract every vain thought with a figh, and chide with your hearts for vain excurfions; check them as Christ did his drowsy disciples, What? cannot you watch with Chrift for one hour? How then will you like to be engaged in heaven's work to all eternity, where there is no interruption?

Re

Again, confider the uncertainty of your time for prayer. Had a criminal but a quarter of an hour allotted him to beg his life before an earthly judge, would he fpend it in gazing upon the court and their fine

clothes,